D&D Session Prep with This Dungeon Is Occupied

Reach out to This Dungeon is Occupied at https://linktr.ee/thisdungeonisoccupiedpod

Warmup: Justin to This Dungeon is Occupied

Prompt: Think of the last group you DM’d for. Now describe  the character that you would like to have played in that group if you could add a new character for yourself.

Intro:

Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM. I’m Justin Lewis, and together with my cohost Tanner Weyland, we help you craft better stories for yourselves and your players as you DM sessions of D&D 5d regardless of how much time or money you have.

Today we are joined by some awesome guests, the voices behind the This Dungeon is Occupied Podcast. We have Illideen, Thorn and Bone Daddy. I’ll let them share their real names with you if they want in a second, but first, let’s go through a couple of housekeeping items. 

First of all, remember that we have the next one-shot coming up in September. Tanner is that game’s Dungeon Master, and we have all the spots filled. If you’re interested in watching that one-shot as a spectator you can go to https://betterdungeonmaster.com/audience at the time of the one-shot and enjoy an excellent show for a few hours.

If you’re interested in signing up for the next one shot, it will be in October and will actually be hosted by one of our guests here, Bone Daddy. He is a big fan of the horror genre so we thought it was appropriate to have him host a horror-themed Halloween one-shot. You can go to betterdungeonmaster.com/one-shot to sign up for that.

Lastly, we just want to thank you for all your support. We really appreciate everything you do for us. With every episode we strive to give you even better content, so please tell us if we do something wrong or right.

Now, let’s get into today’s show.

So let’s get into our discussion topics. Feel free and introduce yourselves amidst our questions, but don’t feel that you have to.

Main Topic: Preparing for Sessions

  • What’s your main process for session prep?
  • What tools do you use for session prep?
  • How do you balance the main plot line and Individual Backstory plot lines?

Break: Continuation of Warmup Prompt

Prompt: Now describe the moment when the character you described at the beginning of today’s show betrays the other characters in the party.

Main Topic Continued: Preparing for Sessions Cont.

  • How do you know you’ve prepared enough?
  • Do you go back and revise any preparation (like editing a paper?)

  • How much do you write out word for word versus simple prompts?

Close:

linktr.ee/thisdungeonisoccupiedpod

Transcript

[justin_lewis] 00:00:03

welcome back to how to be a better d m today i am joined with

[justin_lewis] 00:00:07

some awesome guests and before i introduce them and before we even go any further

[justin_lewis] 00:00:11

let's jump in with the warm up that we like to do in show really

[justin_lewis] 00:00:16

like getting to the story as fast as possible so ladin bone daddy and thorn

[justin_lewis] 00:00:22

here's the prompt i want you to think of the last group that you deemed

[justin_lewis] 00:00:26

for okay just take a second think about that group in your mind imagine the

[justin_lewis] 00:00:32

scenario the story all the players now describe for me the character if if you

[justin_lewis] 00:00:39

weren't playing a character in that group described for me the character that you would

[justin_lewis] 00:00:44

like to have created and played as a player of that group even while you're

[justin_lewis] 00:00:49

deeming

[illideen]:

uh

[justin_lewis] 00:00:51

anyone can go first or whatever

[illideen]:

yeah i'll take this one there is a race of people in my world that

[illideen]:

i'm dmingcurrently that

[justin_lewis] 00:01:01

oh

[illideen]:

they are dragon

[justin_lewis] 00:01:02

yeah

[illideen]:

born sorcerers but they are forced into

[justin_lewis] 00:01:05

oh

[illideen]:

being a dragon born sorcerer so

[justin_lewis] 00:01:08

yeah

[illideen]:

i use the the ionic crystals so each

[justin_lewis] 00:01:11

m

[illideen]:

character had

[justin_lewis] 00:01:12

oh

[illideen]:

a c ionic crystal somewhere on their body you know usually a forehead or in

[illideen]:

the arms things

[justin_lewis] 00:01:17

m

[illideen]:

like that and that kind of transforms

[justin_lewis] 00:01:19

hm

[illideen]:

a code unquote regular n b c into that dragon born sourcer i would love

[illideen]:

to play one of it just seems like a really cool back story you know

[illideen]:

instead of just the regular i was i used to be a slave it's like

[illideen]:

now i was a magic slave and you know you

[justin_lewis] 00:01:37

yeah

[illideen]:

can get a little bit a little

[tanner_weyland] 00:01:38

m

[illideen]:

bit more fun and creative with it because the ionic crystals especially like in third

[illideen]:

and three point five edition they had a lot of stuff to it

[justin_lewis] 00:01:49

m

[illideen]:

and the ionic magic and five kind of uses it a little bit and so

[illideen]:

i just home brood some extra rules so

[justin_lewis] 00:01:58

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:01:58

nice

[justin_lewis] 00:02:00

that's super interesting

[thorn]:

no

[justin_lewis] 00:02:03

would like to go

[thorn]:

i'll

[justin_lewis] 00:02:03

next

[thorn]:

go next the last gaming session

[justin_lewis] 00:02:06

oh

[thorn]:

i did was actually world of darkness so i'll go back to the last d

[thorn]:

n d session i ran which was with a bunch of new people he were

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:16

great

[thorn]:

all played for less than three months interested wanting

[justin_lewis] 00:02:21

yeah

[thorn]:

to do big things so i just did the the dragon queen and started

[justin_lewis] 00:02:30

oh

[thorn]:

out great but they all nobody played a tank

[justin_lewis] 00:02:35

yeah oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:37

um

[thorn]:

there was no front line players

[tanner_weyland] 00:02:38

m

[thorn]:

and it was it was all sorcerers it was all wizards and a couple rogues

[thorn]:

i mean it was there was no front line players in there at all so

[thorn]:

to be honest one of my favorite front line players is just a fighter just

[thorn]:

a champion fighter it's very basic but

[justin_lewis] 00:02:57

m

[thorn]:

i would do it i always like to do them with a twist so i

[thorn]:

kind

[justin_lewis] 00:03:01

yeah

[thorn]:

of either take them from the fighting pits or i take them

[justin_lewis] 00:03:04

m

[thorn]:

from just a a person that that has

[justin_lewis] 00:03:08

oh

[thorn]:

taught himself to fight so it's different

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:11

oh

[thorn]:

than anything so you got different moods you almost got like the drunken master in

[thorn]:

there and just a little different things in there just to make it more interesting

[thorn]:

and i always

[justin_lewis] 00:03:20

oh

[thorn]:

like to either if i'm playing a full tank i'll do like you

[justin_lewis] 00:03:24

oh

[thorn]:

know goliath or anything like that but to be honest the way they were spread

[thorn]:

around

[justin_lewis] 00:03:29

oh

[thorn]:

with races and everything i would have just done dragon born

[justin_lewis] 00:03:32

oh

[thorn]:

just did a dragon born fighter and i would have named him seth so

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:38

love

[justin_lewis] 00:03:38

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:03:38

it

[thorn]:

plain and simple

[justin_lewis] 00:03:39

m i love that all right bone daddy

[bonedaddy]:

all

[justin_lewis] 00:03:43

your

[bonedaddy]:

right

[justin_lewis] 00:03:43

turn

[bonedaddy]:

so the last game i ran was the dragons campaign it was a fusion between

[bonedaddy]:

strict haven the curriculum of chaos and also the domains of dread book so what

[bonedaddy]:

i did was i did a continuation of like in the domains of dread there's

[justin_lewis] 00:04:02

yah

[bonedaddy]:

there's like the domain lords

[justin_lewis] 00:04:04

oh

[bonedaddy]:

and one of them escapes and like the actual canonical like story in the domains

[bonedaddy]:

of dread and it's a lith by the lich by the name asvonrex escapes and

[bonedaddy]:

so i did a continuation story where i he was like the headmaster at the

[bonedaddy]:

strict

[justin_lewis] 00:04:21

oh

[bonedaddy]:

haven academy for magic and

[justin_lewis] 00:04:23

oh

[bonedaddy]:

he was like trying to teach and hide

[justin_lewis] 00:04:26

oh

[bonedaddy]:

at stricaven and so the players we're trying to figure out why why the domains

[bonedaddy]:

of dread were ceping into

[justin_lewis] 00:04:34

oh

[bonedaddy]:

the world like the demi playing that the school was built on they were slowly

[bonedaddy]:

starting to see an it's because the entities were looking for for aslant put him

[bonedaddy]:

back where he where he belonged and i basically i turned all strad and all

[bonedaddy]:

the other

[justin_lewis] 00:04:48

m

[bonedaddy]:

domainloids into kids i had them like

[justin_lewis] 00:04:51

m

[bonedaddy]:

sleeper agents in the school and so there was

[tanner_weyland] 00:04:54

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

it was

[justin_lewis] 00:04:55

m

[bonedaddy]:

it was just a wild little adventure

[justin_lewis] 00:04:57

oh

[bonedaddy]:

that i had put together for my friends

[justin_lewis] 00:04:59

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

and i i would have loved to play in that one because it was like

[bonedaddy]:

half like school murder mystery half half like there was like this whole world to

[bonedaddy]:

like sandbox world that they could kind of go to and see the different schools

[bonedaddy]:

that were offered if i had to play a character

[justin_lewis] 00:05:16

oh

[bonedaddy]:

in there i would have loved to play like conspiracy this like kids it's like

[justin_lewis] 00:05:22

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

he's like really into the domains of dread like he's like he's like yeah and

[bonedaddy]:

they're here and

[justin_lewis] 00:05:28

m

[bonedaddy]:

like you don't even know and he's like

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:30

ah

[bonedaddy]:

takes a puff smoke

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:31

yah

[bonedaddy]:

of a cigarette and he's just like oh and

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:34

uh

[bonedaddy]:

that would have been

[justin_lewis] 00:05:35

ah

[bonedaddy]:

to kind of just

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:37

h

[bonedaddy]:

be like investigating these things he's like determined to prove to everybody there here he's

[bonedaddy]:

like it's strad it looks like trade look at him and he's

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:45

ye

[bonedaddy]:

like that's a kid guy

[justin_lewis] 00:05:46

uh

[bonedaddy]:

like what are you talking about because vampires exist on strict

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:49

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

stevens world so like just

[justin_lewis] 00:05:50

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

a vampire why you so like you know like what's wrong with you

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:55

he's like look

[bonedaddy]:

and so

[tanner_weyland] 00:05:55

at the shadows you can tell

[bonedaddy]:

okay o everywhere look at the mist that's rolling in and like now that's just

[bonedaddy]:

weather bloom

[justin_lewis] 00:06:03

oh

[bonedaddy]:

like y're doing their experiments

[justin_lewis] 00:06:05

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

like

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:06

oh

[bonedaddy]:

no crease

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:07

h

[bonedaddy]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:06:10

i love that that is so funny well listener welcome back to how to be

[justin_lewis] 00:06:15

a better d m i'm justin lewis and together with my cohort

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:18

oh

[justin_lewis] 00:06:18

tanner wayland we help you craft better

[tanner_weyland] 00:06:20

oh

[justin_lewis] 00:06:20

stories for yourselves and your players d m sessions of d and five e regardless

[justin_lewis] 00:06:25

of how much time or money you have and today we are joined by some

[justin_lewis] 00:06:30

awesome guests the voices behind this dungeon is occupied podcast we have laden thorn

[thorn]:

yah

[justin_lewis] 00:06:36

and bone daddy i'll actually let them share their real names later with you if

[justin_lewis] 00:06:39

they want but first let's go through a couple of house keeping items first of

[justin_lewis] 00:06:43

all remember that we

[thorn]:

yah

[justin_lewis] 00:06:44

have the next one shot coming up in september tanner is actually the game aster

[justin_lewis] 00:06:49

for that and we have all the spots filled but if you're interested in what

[justin_lewis] 00:06:52

in that one shot as a spectator you can go to better dungeon master dot

[justin_lewis] 00:06:56

com slash audience at the time of the one shot and enjoy just a fun

[justin_lewis] 00:07:01

show for a couple of hours but if you are interested in signing up for

[justin_lewis] 00:07:05

the next one shot it will actually be in october and we'll be hosted by

[justin_lewis] 00:07:09

one of our guests here bone daddy he is a huge fan of horror so

[justin_lewis] 00:07:13

we thought it was appropriate to have him host our

[tanner_weyland] 00:07:15

oh

[justin_lewis] 00:07:15

horror themes halloween one shot and if you have trauma from that blame him

[thorn]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:07:20

but you can go to better than

[thorn]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:07:23

you can go to better dungeon master dot com slash one shot sorry one dash

[justin_lewis] 00:07:28

shot to sign up for that lastly we just want to thank you for all

[justin_lewis] 00:07:31

your support we really appreciate everything you do for us and with every episode we

[justin_lewis] 00:07:35

strive to give you ever better content so please if we're doing something wrong or

[justin_lewis] 00:07:40

even something right go ahead and tell us but now let's get to today's show

[justin_lewis] 00:07:45

so let's get into our discussion topics like i said feel free and when you

[justin_lewis] 00:07:53

know you answer one of these questions you you put a comment if you want

[justin_lewis] 00:07:57

to introduce yourself talk about you know some of your history and experience but don't

[justin_lewis] 00:08:01

feel like you have i figure i think people will more so appreciate who you

[justin_lewis] 00:08:08

are by the value

[tanner_weyland] 00:08:09

m

[justin_lewis] 00:08:09

that you bring because in our last conversation we were actually on their podcast we

[justin_lewis] 00:08:14

had a lot of fun and you guys do bring a lot of values i

[justin_lewis] 00:08:17

figure let's just give

[thorn]:

oh

[justin_lewis] 00:08:18

them what they want so today we are talking about preparing for sessions and actually

[thorn]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:08:25

in our conversation before we started recording you guys were mentioning some of the antics

[justin_lewis] 00:08:31

with one of your previous campaigns and all the gold that thorn you were accruing

[justin_lewis] 00:08:37

and all the preparation that you had to

[thorn]:

yah

[justin_lewis] 00:08:41

you had to do laden so i guess it's it's it's a good place to

[justin_lewis] 00:08:45

start

[thorn]:

yah

[justin_lewis] 00:08:46

how do you know when enough is enough with preparation and sometimes when enough is

[justin_lewis] 00:08:52

too much

[illideen]:

so i'll take this one listeners i'm ladin i have been playing d and d

[illideen]:

for about sixteen years now d d ming for almost half that time you know

[illideen]:

it's enough once it stops being fun i

[justin_lewis] 00:09:11

oh

[illideen]:

am a writer so i love writing i have binders upon binders of just story

[illideen]:

plots and plot hooks that i've come up with um that have either been played

[illideen]:

or are

[justin_lewis] 00:09:22

oh

[illideen]:

just sitting as a tool box that i can pull out

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:26

oh

[illideen]:

and it's one of those things that if you know in the case that you

[illideen]:

were talking about about the gold i was doing exile spread sheets of gold and

[illideen]:

salaries and you know they had the towards the end of the campaign we went

[illideen]:

all the

[justin_lewis] 00:09:42

m

[illideen]:

way

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:42

oh

[illideen]:

to level twenty towards the end they had

[justin_lewis] 00:09:45

oh

[illideen]:

a keep that they had with employees and so i had to make sure that

[illideen]:

okay well this money is coming in but this money is

[tanner_weyland] 00:09:53

m

[illideen]:

going out we had it was constant bookkeeping and i almost paid for quick books

[justin_lewis] 00:09:58

m

[illideen]:

for my campaign because it got that serious and at that point i was like

[illideen]:

all right we need to

[justin_lewis] 00:10:04

oh

[illideen]:

did it chill a little

[tanner_weyland] 00:10:06

yeah

[illideen]:

on the finance but

[justin_lewis] 00:10:09

ah

[illideen]:

it was still fun i mean every time that i did it you know it

[illideen]:

was obviously hard to do all the math especially when you're thinking like okay one

[illideen]:

gold is equal to thirty six point seven dollars u s so how much how

[illideen]:

do i figure that out towards a beer okay well a beer is a copper

[illideen]:

it is just

[tanner_weyland] 00:10:26

oh

[illideen]:

it goes on forever but as long as it's fun i mean you're you're having

[illideen]:

fun that that's all there is to it that's that's the big thing for us

[illideen]:

on our podcast is just always have fun and that's if it was a point

[illideen]:

to where i was like okay i really i need to sleep or i need

[illideen]:

a beer you just

[tanner_weyland] 00:10:43

m

[illideen]:

stop

[justin_lewis] 00:10:43

m

[illideen]:

that's that's all it is

[justin_lewis] 00:10:44

m i like that i like

[tanner_weyland] 00:10:48

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:10:48

that oh bon daddy were you going to mention something

[bonedaddy]:

oh no i didn't i moved

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:01

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

i moved

[justin_lewis] 00:11:02

oh

[bonedaddy]:

awkwardly

[justin_lewis] 00:11:02

sorry

[bonedaddy]:

my back

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:04

well

[justin_lewis] 00:11:04

my

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:04

that

[bonedaddy]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:11:05

you're fine

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:06

that

[justin_lewis] 00:11:06

you're

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:06

works

[justin_lewis] 00:11:06

fine

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:06

perfect because i actually had a question for bone daddy

[bonedaddy]:

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:09

in the warm

[justin_lewis] 00:11:10

uh

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:10

up prompt you were talking about

[justin_lewis] 00:11:13

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:14

i mean you just casually mentioned that you used ree different like settings to create

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:20

an adventure and brought in a bunch of different you know enemies you know a

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:25

lot of depth that i could see other people just it's stewing over for

[justin_lewis] 00:11:31

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:31

months just making sure they got everything right

[justin_lewis] 00:11:33

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:11:34

how did you avoid doing that or or did you do that

[bonedaddy]:

well i so with one of my favorite things to do when nuts brought it

[bonedaddy]:

up is to i love cutting and pasting like the modules together because i like

[bonedaddy]:

seeing what the two settings would look meshed um it's it's how i pray for

[bonedaddy]:

games that when i know that people want to play in certain settings but i

[bonedaddy]:

always like to keep it fresh because the source books

[justin_lewis] 00:12:05

m

[bonedaddy]:

are so readily available that people will read through them because there are really cool

[bonedaddy]:

stories going on but i also want to keep people on their toes so i'll

[bonedaddy]:

usually introduce like a different concept into the game for example i've done rhyme of

[bonedaddy]:

the frost made in and propping for that was he rimwiththe frost maidens

[justin_lewis] 00:12:23

m

[bonedaddy]:

like

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:25

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

ten towns

[justin_lewis] 00:12:26

m

[bonedaddy]:

beginning and i fused it with setting

[justin_lewis] 00:12:30

oh

[bonedaddy]:

that had to do with it's called witch

[justin_lewis] 00:12:32

m

[bonedaddy]:

plus craft that i had purchased and it's a it's

[justin_lewis] 00:12:35

m

[bonedaddy]:

a setting book that has like a really really

[justin_lewis] 00:12:38

oh

[bonedaddy]:

fun and cute like intro about like a world

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:41

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

that that you can you can add

[tanner_weyland] 00:12:44

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

a more intricate system to basically creating alchometic components but i took that world and

[bonedaddy]:

the fused fused it with the ten towns world and then i also took some

[bonedaddy]:

aspects from from raven loft that i that i particularly enjoyed that i thought would

[bonedaddy]:

fit in well with the theme of the story and i created a little

[justin_lewis] 00:13:06

m

[bonedaddy]:

essentially a

[justin_lewis] 00:13:09

m

[bonedaddy]:

map in my head of where we were going to go

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:12

m

[bonedaddy]:

and kind of just placed these places into the map

[justin_lewis] 00:13:15

m

[bonedaddy]:

that you could cross over in the way they interact would interact together and what

[bonedaddy]:

it meant for this concept to exist in this world and how that wouldn't act

[bonedaddy]:

later parts of the story so that's usually how i'm prepared for games if i'm

[bonedaddy]:

running modules i haven't ridden myself like so someone as like i want to play

[bonedaddy]:

around with frost and i was like we could do that not going a look

[bonedaddy]:

the same but it's going to follow a similar trajectory

[justin_lewis] 00:13:40

m

[bonedaddy]:

i'm not going to throw things at you that you know how to beat i'm

[bonedaddy]:

gonna i'm going to send things like different little creative things that you're not expecting

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:47

yah

[bonedaddy]:

at you so

[tanner_weyland] 00:13:49

yah nice

[justin_lewis] 00:13:52

so doing stuff like that obviously takes a lot of preparation that you can't really

[justin_lewis] 00:14:02

equate to like session preparation it's more like like behind the scenes preparation so you

[justin_lewis] 00:14:09

know directed to all of you guys what sort of things are you guys doing

[justin_lewis] 00:14:13

kind of on a regular basis that you feel is transferable across any session any

[justin_lewis] 00:14:20

any game campaign and anything like that

[thorn]:

and i'll start this one thorn for all the listeners i've been playing d and

[thorn]:

d and other arpgs for right around thirty three years

[justin_lewis] 00:14:31

oh

[thorn]:

been been ming or story weaving is like we like to call it for run

[thorn]:

about twenty five off and on and the last campaign i did was was a

[thorn]:

world darkness campaign because we after a lot of stuff we have other friends there

[thorn]:

into other tabletop games and so i have done world darkness off and on for

[thorn]:

a long time so i did one and my preparation versus their preparation way different

[thorn]:

because i don't like to write it's okay

[justin_lewis] 00:15:05

oh

[thorn]:

if the d m s and in story weavers everythin if you don't like to

[thorn]:

write that's fine i will do some studying i actually came up with this campaign

[justin_lewis] 00:15:17

oh

[thorn]:

um

[tanner_weyland] 00:15:18

oh

[thorn]:

a thing that i saw on youtube called forever verse it's run by ivan van

[thorn]:

norman who is an amazing amazing g m and his thing was he too ok

[thorn]:

his character s from world

[justin_lewis] 00:15:32

m

[thorn]:

darkness and did like a time travel back to world war two

[justin_lewis] 00:15:36

m

[thorn]:

and then he actually after that was over he actually went to a different table

[thorn]:

top game he put them into

[justin_lewis] 00:15:42

m

[thorn]:

seven s which i've never played and always have wanted to since i've listened to

[thorn]:

this because it sounds great but i took that a little bit and just put

[thorn]:

it in world darkness and it did kind of a time travelling episode so my

[thorn]:

game whole

[tanner_weyland] 00:15:56

m

[thorn]:

thing was like they fought against this

[justin_lewis] 00:15:58

oh

[thorn]:

thing in modern day and then all of a sudden they're

[justin_lewis] 00:16:02

m

[thorn]:

transported back to jack the ripper so it's england you know jack the ripper

[justin_lewis] 00:16:09

m

[thorn]:

era and it's all that's going on while they're trying to figure

[justin_lewis] 00:16:12

m

[thorn]:

what's going on and then after that one ended it was back to the the

[thorn]:

salem witch trials so i was using history in it

[justin_lewis] 00:16:20

m m

[thorn]:

and i would have i would research it and i would look at this this

[thorn]:

is what happened these are the people these

[justin_lewis] 00:16:25

m

[thorn]:

are the names this is what's going on but other than that i let them

[thorn]:

run wild n each section that i came up with had a time limit they

[thorn]:

had this many things this many sessions to actually finish this if they didn't they

[thorn]:

got pushed and i was keeping kind of the score between them and the b

[thorn]:

b

[justin_lewis] 00:16:46

m

[thorn]:

b g just trying to figure out where they were going to land so it

[thorn]:

was a lot of prep as far as the studying of

[justin_lewis] 00:16:54

oh

[thorn]:

the history of it but i was using real history so it was a lot

[thorn]:

easier and you know i've done the big campaigns where i've wrote stuff out i

[thorn]:

just don't like it um

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:04

yeah

[thorn]:

me personally i fly off the hook i'm off the cuff i let them do

[thorn]:

what they want and i react

[justin_lewis] 00:17:09

oh

[thorn]:

to it i think it goes

[justin_lewis] 00:17:11

my

[thorn]:

pretty well for me and not everybody can do it but it seems to work

[thorn]:

well for me

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:18

and with that being said so

[justin_lewis] 00:17:21

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:22

do you do a lot of prep just like for the campaign in general and

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:27

then make the each session prep a little bit lighter

[justin_lewis] 00:17:30

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:31

or do

[thorn]:

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:32

you guys kind of do it a revert yeah okay the

[thorn]:

that's

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:34

first

[thorn]:

what

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:34

one then

[thorn]:

i do these guys right here these are all written out binders

[justin_lewis] 00:17:37

oh

[thorn]:

these guys do amazing these

[justin_lewis] 00:17:39

oh

[thorn]:

are two of the best and i'm saying from a lot of

[justin_lewis] 00:17:42

yeah

[thorn]:

experience they are two of the best gems i've ever played for i mean they

[thorn]:

are

[justin_lewis] 00:17:47

wow

[thorn]:

amazing and it's been so much fun

[justin_lewis] 00:17:50

wow

[thorn]:

doing it and

[illideen]:

oh

[thorn]:

i true

[justin_lewis] 00:17:53

yeah

[thorn]:

i make characters that kind of wreck their

[tanner_weyland] 00:17:55

m

[thorn]:

plans

[justin_lewis] 00:17:57

oh

[thorn]:

but i'm known for saying chaos is good r p and that's what i do

[thorn]:

so i do it well

[justin_lewis] 00:18:04

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:18:05

yeah

[illideen]:

ah yeah if then i can add with with prepping either for a big campaign

[illideen]:

or even for a session if i've definitely slowed down

[justin_lewis] 00:18:19

m

[illideen]:

on writing even as much as i like writing i kind of take it as

[illideen]:

a writing outline now you know a little bit of bullet points

[justin_lewis] 00:18:28

oh

[illideen]:

and as you as you get

[justin_lewis] 00:18:31

oh

[illideen]:

i want to say get better but as you continue to

[justin_lewis] 00:18:34

oh

[illideen]:

d m and n do even as a player

[justin_lewis] 00:18:37

m

[illideen]:

you are able to do a lot more

[justin_lewis] 00:18:40

m

[illideen]:

improve and kind of go off of things that are um

[justin_lewis] 00:18:45

oh

[illideen]:

because second nature i mean mark twain says

[justin_lewis] 00:18:48

yeah

[illideen]:

that you know there's no longer a original idea everything is going to be

[justin_lewis] 00:18:53

oh

[illideen]:

based off of something else whether it's reference from a movie reference from a book

[illideen]:

poetry it doesn't matter what it is you i mean there's been so many humans

[illideen]:

on the planet now that

[justin_lewis] 00:19:05

m

[illideen]:

there's not going to be an original idea completely

[justin_lewis] 00:19:08

m

[illideen]:

it's just going to be twists of something else um let me look at the

[illideen]:

difference between star wards and harry potter

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:15

yeah

[illideen]:

you know

[justin_lewis] 00:19:16

oh

[illideen]:

hm one orphan to another orphan it's kind of the same thing

[tanner_weyland] 00:19:19

oh

[illideen]:

but still that

[justin_lewis] 00:19:21

hm

[illideen]:

nice different twist

[justin_lewis] 00:19:22

my

[illideen]:

um it's kind of the same thing when you're when you're prepping if you're if

[illideen]:

you haven't this idea for a story if you have something like knowbondaddy was saying

[illideen]:

a source book use the source book but at the same time make it your

[illideen]:

own because there's no way that you're going to memorize i mean maybe matt mercer

[illideen]:

but there's no way that you're going to be able to memorized the

[justin_lewis] 00:19:45

yeah

[illideen]:

entire source book the entire

[justin_lewis] 00:19:47

yeah

[illideen]:

lower behind something that's been going on longer than you know some of us have

[illideen]:

been alive so trying to trying to do that just puts undue stress so have

[illideen]:

your bullet points you know use

[justin_lewis] 00:20:02

m

[illideen]:

other sources i am a big user fantasy name generator dot com because i'm not

[illideen]:

coming up with a thousand names for my cities i have a city with a

[illideen]:

population

[justin_lewis] 00:20:14

yeah

[illideen]:

of one million i based it kind of off of san antonio i'm coming up

[illideen]:

with all those names so i have a little bank of fifteen to twenty names

[illideen]:

that i haven't used for the party and it's on the side of my computer

[illideen]:

i used world anvil

[justin_lewis] 00:20:29

m

[illideen]:

to keep my notes organize um so when i'm when i'm there and you know

[illideen]:

go into a shop i'm just looking at the name and going get that one

[illideen]:

and then i copy and past it to a note and then it just makes

[illideen]:

it easier so i think that that's more my prep now is just having a

[illideen]:

couple of quick power point or bullet point notes that i can look at and

[illideen]:

go all right this is cool let's run with it

[tanner_weyland] 00:20:56

okay

[justin_lewis] 00:20:57

i love that head

[tanner_weyland] 00:20:59

no

[justin_lewis] 00:20:59

tenner

[tanner_weyland] 00:20:59

it's just interesting i think i'm noticing from a lot of you you're saying that

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:04

kind of like hey do a lot of the bulk of your prep maybe early

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:08

on like when you're riding the campaign

[bonedaddy]:

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:10

but and for each session afterwards you know don't don't stress over the nittygrideo of

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:16

each session am i wrong about that

[bonedaddy]:

m yeah that's

[illideen]:

no yeh

[bonedaddy]:

right

[justin_lewis] 00:21:22

oh

[illideen]:

go ahead

[tanner_weyland] 00:21:23

go ahead

[bonedaddy]:

um that's so when i think like the bulk of the campaign at the beginning

[bonedaddy]:

with my notes and and things along with nature usually the way i

[justin_lewis] 00:21:37

m

[bonedaddy]:

start my beginning book prep is i look at what the goal of my campaign

[bonedaddy]:

is going to be so i have my story in mind and i break down

[bonedaddy]:

specific story points that i want to touch on thing so the end of course

[bonedaddy]:

like what i want my ending to kind of shape and look like the general

[bonedaddy]:

goal

[justin_lewis] 00:21:56

oh

[bonedaddy]:

and then i break down what needs to happen in the story and

[justin_lewis] 00:22:01

m

[bonedaddy]:

i kind of branch it out like so there's possibilities that can go from each

[bonedaddy]:

of these points but these are points that i want to hit on and that

[bonedaddy]:

makes it a little easier to kind of kind of rep for me because at

[bonedaddy]:

that point i am a little more flexible so as long as i reach

[justin_lewis] 00:22:15

oh

[bonedaddy]:

point

[tanner_weyland] 00:22:16

m

[bonedaddy]:

or a general form of point than i can doesn't matter how they get there

[justin_lewis] 00:22:21

m

[bonedaddy]:

so like it gives it up portunity for for improve is the opportunity

[justin_lewis] 00:22:26

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

for any kind of

[justin_lewis] 00:22:29

oh

[bonedaddy]:

offshoot they want to do and m and i kind of just weave it around

[bonedaddy]:

that essentially it just branch off there and then it does not and it's not

[bonedaddy]:

always a straight line they will always go down the path that i present to

[bonedaddy]:

them so it's kind of like a curve around

[justin_lewis] 00:22:43

m

[bonedaddy]:

but i definitely i'll write out notes on the side i'll be like in case

[bonedaddy]:

this happens this is a possibility i'm just kind of to think about it and

[bonedaddy]:

then i just play it off when they get there so like i

[justin_lewis] 00:22:56

m

[bonedaddy]:

think of what

[justin_lewis] 00:22:58

oh

[bonedaddy]:

what would be the next reaction will be the next thing they do and then

[bonedaddy]:

i'll play my story off from there

[tanner_weyland] 00:23:04

okay

[bonedaddy]:

m

[justin_lewis] 00:23:05

i like it you wanted to add to that i think

[illideen]:

yeah it's kind of the difference between railroad and sand box campaigns you know railroading

[illideen]:

is a very direct line there's there's these

[justin_lewis] 00:23:17

oh

[illideen]:

walls kind of like a bowling alley you know you can only go one direction

[justin_lewis] 00:23:21

m

[illideen]:

the sand box it's a little bit wider i do like to think of a

[illideen]:

sand box you know it's still a box so you still have the parameters of

[illideen]:

your campaign but your characters and your players can go

[justin_lewis] 00:23:34

m

[illideen]:

basically

[justin_lewis] 00:23:35

oh

[illideen]:

wherever they want um and one of the things that i like because i've been

[illideen]:

a player in a railroad campaign and you know

[justin_lewis] 00:23:42

yeah

[illideen]:

sometimes it works but

[tanner_weyland] 00:23:46

m

[illideen]:

if you are the type of person that

[justin_lewis] 00:23:48

oh

[illideen]:

kind of gets upset if if your players don't follow a plot hook

[justin_lewis] 00:23:52

m

[illideen]:

instead of saying no no no this is how it's going to go you know

[illideen]:

and forcing the sto that way take the plot hook and move it in the

[illideen]:

sand box there's nothing wrong with your the town that they didn't go to just

[illideen]:

move it if it doesn't make sense that you know if you're in

[justin_lewis] 00:24:10

oh

[illideen]:

a ocean town and everybody was mur

[justin_lewis] 00:24:14

m

[illideen]:

folk and sea elves and things and now they're in the desert well great i

[illideen]:

mean now they're good nose now they're dragon born whatever just and just that you

[illideen]:

don't have to change the names you don't have

[justin_lewis] 00:24:26

m

[illideen]:

to change

[tanner_weyland] 00:24:26

oh

[illideen]:

the towns all that other hard work that you did that you

[justin_lewis] 00:24:30

m

[illideen]:

thought of or even just looked at and copied

[justin_lewis] 00:24:33

yeah

[illideen]:

copy and paste it somewhere else it's kind of rail rody but it doesn't feel

[illideen]:

that way anymore

[justin_lewis] 00:24:39

m

[illideen]:

so you

[tanner_weyland] 00:24:40

yeah

[illideen]:

can still use

[justin_lewis] 00:24:41

ah

[illideen]:

those things and still have fun with it instead because being in a railroad a

[illideen]:

true railroad campaign can be extreme

[justin_lewis] 00:24:47

yeah

[illideen]:

boring

[justin_lewis] 00:24:50

m it's less rail rody and more stress reducing for the g the

[illideen]:

right

[justin_lewis] 00:24:56

d you know uh kind of talking about how you got i kind of preferred

[justin_lewis] 00:25:02

to do a lot of prep work up front in the campaign what sort of

[justin_lewis] 00:25:08

things do you need or do you think need to be covered or at least

[justin_lewis] 00:25:13

thought about just for you know for our nub listener out there who wanting to

[justin_lewis] 00:25:18

run the

[thorn]:

yah

[justin_lewis] 00:25:19

first campaign you're saying hey if you're if you're going to start a campaign you

[justin_lewis] 00:25:23

need to have these things at least started

[thorn]:

yah

[justin_lewis] 00:25:28

in your mind in order

[thorn]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:25:29

to start correctly

[thorn]:

well the one thing i would say and it kind of sounds counter intuitive is

[thorn]:

you have to think about the ending use all campaigns

[justin_lewis] 00:25:39

m

[thorn]:

come to an end at least an arc does you have to think about how

[thorn]:

you imagine it ending and you can't be hurt if it

[justin_lewis] 00:25:48

m

[thorn]:

doesn't in that way so what i do

[justin_lewis] 00:25:51

oh

[thorn]:

is i think of how i want this to end i think of the campaign

[justin_lewis] 00:25:54

oh

[thorn]:

and everything and how i want it to end and

[justin_lewis] 00:25:57

oh

[thorn]:

then you kind of work backwards okay could so they got to go to her

[thorn]:

they

[tanner_weyland] 00:26:00

oh

[thorn]:

got to go to hear these things need to happen or they don't

[justin_lewis] 00:26:03

oh

[thorn]:

there's ways around it like me i am known for just changing mind on the

[thorn]:

fly so if your characters come up with a good

[tanner_weyland] 00:26:11

my

[thorn]:

idea or if they come up with a really roundabout

[justin_lewis] 00:26:14

oh

[thorn]:

way or just something that's very creative to

[justin_lewis] 00:26:16

yeah

[thorn]:

get them to a certain step in it let them do it because it makes

[thorn]:

for a better story i mean you don't have to think of everything that's one

[thorn]:

thing i've learned over the years i've playing as you do not have to think

[thorn]:

of everything because your players can think up of a lot use them but i

[thorn]:

think the i think one of the most important things to think of is just

[thorn]:

the ending you got to figure out how you wanted to end because it can't

[thorn]:

go on forever

[illideen]:

i think

[justin_lewis] 00:26:45

oh

[illideen]:

i think with with a specific prep the most important

[thorn]:

oh

[illideen]:

thing would probably

[justin_lewis] 00:26:51

oh

[illideen]:

be just a blank notebook uh because your players like like thorence said you know

[illideen]:

your players are goin to come up with something and if you're let's say you're

[illideen]:

in a murder mystery and the person was actually colonel must with the candlestick but

[illideen]:

the player was like you know what i'd be really interesting if it was the

[illideen]:

maid um and you know write that down and it's a way cooler to the

[illideen]:

players go i told you it's that thing it's you know

[justin_lewis] 00:27:22

m

[illideen]:

that's that's the i knew it the whole

[justin_lewis] 00:27:24

yeah

[illideen]:

time ten sessions ago

[justin_lewis] 00:27:26

m

[illideen]:

instead of

[justin_lewis] 00:27:27

hm

[illideen]:

know i guess that it could be cool to still have a twist you know

[illideen]:

and and maybe they think it's the one person

[tanner_weyland] 00:27:34

look

[illideen]:

the whole time and it turns out to be a party member but if the

[illideen]:

if the cool ending isn't cool for the party you fail it has to be

[illideen]:

fun it has to be that i'd like to say it's the rule of cool

[illideen]:

if it's cool and you guys are talking about it ten years later over drinks

[illideen]:

then you've won that's that's the only way to win any table top game um

[illideen]:

but aside from that it would be

[justin_lewis] 00:28:01

yeah

[illideen]:

you know like i said maybe a bullet point of a couple of names so

[illideen]:

that way you know like i said if if i'm writing a whole binder full

[illideen]:

of campaign work and then they say oh well what's this guy's name yeah i

[illideen]:

can't remember you know

[tanner_weyland] 00:28:16

oh

[illideen]:

it's not the only like

[tanner_weyland] 00:28:18

yeah

[illideen]:

that's why i said like matt mercer can do it and and the other awesome

[illideen]:

professional

[justin_lewis] 00:28:21

m

[illideen]:

d ms because they are that's their job they're paid to do that but

[justin_lewis] 00:28:25

hm

[illideen]:

a lot of us have and er two extra jobs on top of being a

[illideen]:

story

[justin_lewis] 00:28:30

yah

[illideen]:

weaver

[justin_lewis] 00:28:30

yah

[illideen]:

and trust

[justin_lewis] 00:28:32

yeah

[illideen]:

me story weaving can sound like a job and i know you guys have talked

[illideen]:

about it on an episode before but you guys are starting to do an hour

[illideen]:

or two hours of prep work every time you have a session and it's weekly

[illideen]:

now you're starting to get almost into a full time job you know starting to

[illideen]:

think about it

[justin_lewis] 00:28:50

m

[illideen]:

so if you're not going to be able to remember and a player says hey

[illideen]:

what's this this tavern's name instead of saying

[tanner_weyland] 00:28:57

m

[illideen]:

hold on let me look at my binder and take ten minutes

[justin_lewis] 00:28:59

m

[illideen]:

to turn the page to the right spot just have names up there and you

[illideen]:

know you kind of get a field for where your players are going to go

[illideen]:

if they're traveling from point it point b somewhere in between there if you have

[illideen]:

a plot hook and you know it's going to happen so just have that little

[illideen]:

spot there don't have the whole twenty page book or a whole bunch of ideas

[illideen]:

and it does help if you have a little bit of improve of experience or

[illideen]:

practice improving because then you like what's that guy's name that's george the guard he's

[illideen]:

eighteen years old and he's holding a pike and he he's stopping you and you

[illideen]:

know he maybe he had a a a late puberty and his voice is still

[illideen]:

still messed up and then you can throw out a fun voice and that will

[illideen]:

be

[justin_lewis] 00:29:48

oh

[illideen]:

more memorable and then you just write that down

[justin_lewis] 00:29:50

yeah

[illideen]:

i had george the pike guy at the guard door and that's all you need

[illideen]:

and then you can just go from there and i did that reference because

[tanner_weyland] 00:29:59

m

[illideen]:

that's exactly what happened

[tanner_weyland] 00:30:00

yeah

[illideen]:

with my wife she really wanted the guard to

[justin_lewis] 00:30:04

yeah

[illideen]:

have a name and i was like all right you know what yeah he's got

[illideen]:

this weird crackly voice and he was like stop you need to wait at the

[illideen]:

gate and she just she died

[justin_lewis] 00:30:16

oh

[illideen]:

and

[tanner_weyland] 00:30:16

yeah

[illideen]:

so i was like all right well he's he's in the campaign now so

[tanner_weyland] 00:30:21

that's

[justin_lewis] 00:30:21

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:30:21

amazing

[justin_lewis] 00:30:23

yeah i love those

[tanner_weyland] 00:30:24

well well justin i feel

[justin_lewis] 00:30:26

um

[tanner_weyland] 00:30:26

like it's a perfect

[justin_lewis] 00:30:27

go ahead tenner

[tanner_weyland] 00:30:27

time to go into the continuation of the warm

[justin_lewis] 00:30:30

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:30:30

up because he did mention betrayal

[justin_lewis] 00:30:33

yes

[tanner_weyland] 00:30:36

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:30:37

so another thing we like to do lately is kind of continue to warm up

[justin_lewis] 00:30:43

and progress it nother step so think of that character you described at the beginning

[justin_lewis] 00:30:49

of today's show now describe the moment in which that character you described betrays the

[justin_lewis] 00:30:55

other party member

[thorn]:

this is so

[illideen]:

okay

[thorn]:

up our alley you have no idea

[tanner_weyland] 00:31:02

oh

[justin_lewis] 00:31:03

yeah uh

[illideen]:

i can see all

[bonedaddy]:

um

[illideen]:

of us nodding

[thorn]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:31:05

uh

[thorn]:

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

i'll go

[illideen]:

bone

[bonedaddy]:

i'll

[illideen]:

dad you

[bonedaddy]:

go

[illideen]:

want to take it

[justin_lewis] 00:31:07

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

yeah so as i was saying

[justin_lewis] 00:31:09

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

the curriculum of chaos

[justin_lewis] 00:31:11

yeah m

[bonedaddy]:

and the domains of dread as he refused together aslinret has escaped his

[justin_lewis] 00:31:17

oh

[bonedaddy]:

imprisonment and the entities

[justin_lewis] 00:31:19

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

that that

[justin_lewis] 00:31:20

m

[bonedaddy]:

that keep the prisoners in the

[justin_lewis] 00:31:21

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

maids of dread are seeking him out so they send the domain lords as like

[bonedaddy]:

sleeper agents i'm really intimate of the gathering so i keep saying sleeper agents because

[bonedaddy]:

i'm like for axent leeper agents

[tanner_weyland] 00:31:33

uh

[bonedaddy]:

but

[justin_lewis] 00:31:34

m

[bonedaddy]:

the

[tanner_weyland] 00:31:35

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

i'm like

[justin_lewis] 00:31:35

m

[bonedaddy]:

yeah and so my

[justin_lewis] 00:31:37

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

character is working with the party and then

[justin_lewis] 00:31:41

m

[bonedaddy]:

as on rex finally reveals himself and my my characters head like explodes

[justin_lewis] 00:31:47

oh

[bonedaddy]:

there's like a little like little weird like elder brain in there like a tiny

[bonedaddy]:

elder brain and it's like finally because

[tanner_weyland] 00:31:54

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

one of the main lord is an elder brain that's completely

[tanner_weyland] 00:31:57

m

[bonedaddy]:

crazy and so it's like finally why he's like he's so crazy is because it's

[bonedaddy]:

it's the elder brand just like kept itself dormant for a little while until the

[bonedaddy]:

right time he's just

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:09

oh

[bonedaddy]:

slowly

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:09

my goodness

[bonedaddy]:

been reading everybody's information off their heads so the reason he's crazy is because he's

[bonedaddy]:

like consistently getting feedback where everyone's like thoughts and so that would that would be

[bonedaddy]:

the moment he'd betray them as once

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:21

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

evil is done and then he open portals to let mindflayers into the school

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:28

oh my goodness so he is the greatest

[justin_lewis] 00:32:30

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:30

conspiracy theory

[justin_lewis] 00:32:32

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:32

and in and of himself that's amazing

[bonedaddy]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:32:37

that's awesome

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:38

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

he's like i

[justin_lewis] 00:32:39

awesome

[bonedaddy]:

knew

[illideen]:

oh

[bonedaddy]:

it

[justin_lewis] 00:32:42

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:42

it was me all along

[bonedaddy]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:32:46

mind blown

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:46

yeah

[illideen]:

that's funny

[justin_lewis] 00:32:49

i love it

[illideen]:

for mine because on

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:52

m

[illideen]:

the whole

[tanner_weyland] 00:32:53

okay

[illideen]:

quote unquote slavery thing and being forced into this dragon born sorcerer with the ionic

[illideen]:

crystal i would add that in his deep back story

[justin_lewis] 00:33:05

m

[illideen]:

he volunteered

[tanner_weyland] 00:33:07

m

[illideen]:

maybe

[tanner_weyland] 00:33:09

m

[illideen]:

maybe the b b g helped him some time in his life or you could

[illideen]:

even if you wanted to get really spicy you could multi class him in a

[illideen]:

warlock and his patron is the the thing that he's trying to

[tanner_weyland] 00:33:21

m

[illideen]:

help especially arch lich patrons it is really awesome

[justin_lewis] 00:33:25

yah

[illideen]:

patron

[justin_lewis] 00:33:27

ah

[illideen]:

to have the spells and they are amazing

[justin_lewis] 00:33:29

m

[illideen]:

but i would have it where you know the patron

[justin_lewis] 00:33:34

yeah

[illideen]:

asked him you know to do this thing and he's well i need a little

[illideen]:

bit extra power and he gave him a scionic crystal instead of just

[justin_lewis] 00:33:43

yeah

[illideen]:

giving extra spells you know along the warlock list here's this crystal it takes a

[illideen]:

sacrifice and

[justin_lewis] 00:33:49

yeah

[illideen]:

just jabs it in and he's now he's a

[justin_lewis] 00:33:52

yeah

[illideen]:

dragon born sorcerer slashed warlock

[tanner_weyland] 00:33:55

m

[illideen]:

and i guess that you know the

[justin_lewis] 00:33:57

oh

[illideen]:

betrayal would would be revealing that the entire time

[justin_lewis] 00:34:01

oh

[illideen]:

that they've been working with the party

[justin_lewis] 00:34:04

oh

[illideen]:

every time that they've gone behind scenes

[justin_lewis] 00:34:07

m

[illideen]:

if they split up you know we're just a day in the town let's go

[illideen]:

shopping great i'm i'm going to go over here i wanted to get some some

[illideen]:

items for potions

[tanner_weyland] 00:34:18

yeah

[illideen]:

and maybe there's some behind the scenes work with the d

[tanner_weyland] 00:34:20

m

[illideen]:

m of trying to subvert the parties missions or try and get something to line

[illideen]:

up to where it's the big reveal is we get to the b b g's

[illideen]:

layer and you know maybe there's a monologue and the sorcerer just walks across turns

[illideen]:

around and is now on the b b g side just looking

[justin_lewis] 00:34:42

m

[illideen]:

at the party that that would be fun

[justin_lewis] 00:34:45

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:34:45

yeah

[illideen]:

i'm gonna have to write that down

[justin_lewis] 00:34:47

that sounds amazing m

[thorn]:

so

[tanner_weyland] 00:34:49

yeah

[thorn]:

with mine being with it with a

[justin_lewis] 00:34:51

yeah

[thorn]:

beginner party i would i think it would be very dramatic and which i'm

[justin_lewis] 00:34:56

oh

[thorn]:

big on is like the big review to do it early on so you

[justin_lewis] 00:35:00

yeah

[thorn]:

got this dragon born character that secretly follows t met and they're in the first

[thorn]:

castle setting in hard the dragon queen when they're fighting all the co bolds and

[thorn]:

everything like that and he's just helping them through that

[justin_lewis] 00:35:13

h

[thorn]:

and everything

[justin_lewis] 00:35:13

m

[thorn]:

and it comes of the part where the dragon comes on

[justin_lewis] 00:35:15

oh

[thorn]:

and he kind of helps through that and then you got that one off

[justin_lewis] 00:35:19

m

[thorn]:

that one on one versus the

[justin_lewis] 00:35:22

oh

[thorn]:

the big dragon born like general

[tanner_weyland] 00:35:25

hm

[thorn]:

and have have seth just walk out like here like he's going to challenge him

[thorn]:

and then just falling behind him and revealed to the

[justin_lewis] 00:35:32

m

[thorn]:

party

[justin_lewis] 00:35:32

m

[thorn]:

that he is

[justin_lewis] 00:35:33

m

[thorn]:

actually part of the bad guys

[tanner_weyland] 00:35:37

all along my

[justin_lewis] 00:35:38

love it

[thorn]:

yep

[tanner_weyland] 00:35:39

goodness

[justin_lewis] 00:35:40

yeah

[thorn]:

ah we are big

[justin_lewis] 00:35:42

ah

[thorn]:

fans of the betrayal

[justin_lewis] 00:35:43

i love

[thorn]:

so

[justin_lewis] 00:35:44

all those

[tanner_weyland] 00:35:46

all the players betray each other

[justin_lewis] 00:35:47

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:35:47

and they're like

[thorn]:

yes

[tanner_weyland] 00:35:48

wait

[justin_lewis] 00:35:49

yeah

[thorn]:

a

[tanner_weyland] 00:35:49

what

[illideen]:

well

[thorn]:

yeah

[illideen]:

and it can be fun

[justin_lewis] 00:35:53

yeh

[tanner_weyland] 00:35:53

eh

[illideen]:

you know when

[justin_lewis] 00:35:54

yeah

[illideen]:

we've we've talked about this before but when you're going to do something like that

[illideen]:

it does take a certain table to

[justin_lewis] 00:36:02

oh

[illideen]:

play a betrayal like a player betrayal some people

[justin_lewis] 00:36:05

yeah

[illideen]:

don't like it some people

[justin_lewis] 00:36:06

hm

[illideen]:

don't like p v p but if you have a table that's willing to accept

[illideen]:

it a fun one is to allow everyone at the table

[tanner_weyland] 00:36:15

oh

[illideen]:

to know that it's going to happen hey guys steve is the bad guy the

[illideen]:

people know

[justin_lewis] 00:36:24

oh

[illideen]:

but your characters do

[justin_lewis] 00:36:25

m

[illideen]:

not

[justin_lewis] 00:36:26

m

[illideen]:

uh you know try not to met

[justin_lewis] 00:36:27

yah

[illideen]:

a game but let's play it that way we

[justin_lewis] 00:36:29

ah

[illideen]:

know that that happening and it can be a really fun brain teaser because now

[illideen]:

you're you're thinking about okay well my character doesn't know this

[justin_lewis] 00:36:36

m

[illideen]:

i have to figure out how my character would act and that forces you is

[illideen]:

player to get better at

[justin_lewis] 00:36:47

m

[illideen]:

role playing and getting into your characters

[justin_lewis] 00:36:49

oh

[illideen]:

mindset you know because otherwise you're like well i mean i know he's

[justin_lewis] 00:36:53

m

[illideen]:

a bad guy so i'm gonna i'm gonna go ahead and follow

[justin_lewis] 00:36:56

oh

[illideen]:

him every time he tries to separate the party but your character

[justin_lewis] 00:36:59

uh

[illideen]:

would your character do that does your character actually trust him

[justin_lewis] 00:37:02

oh

[illideen]:

because he saved your life a couple of sessions ago you know like okay yeah

[illideen]:

that's probably true so you have to dig in to your care actermindset and

[justin_lewis] 00:37:11

m

[illideen]:

i've played a campaign like that and

[justin_lewis] 00:37:15

m

[illideen]:

believe thorn has done something similar and it just really helps get into to that

[illideen]:

that mind set get into better r p and then you can use those tools

[illideen]:

later on for other campaigns

[tanner_weyland] 00:37:28

yeah nice

[justin_lewis] 00:37:29

wow i love that

[tanner_weyland] 00:37:31

yah

[justin_lewis] 00:37:31

on that note you mentioned that you know one of the best things for preparation

[justin_lewis] 00:37:37

is to be really good at improve or at least have some practice so what

[justin_lewis] 00:37:42

sort of things have you guys done or have you heard of other people doing

[justin_lewis] 00:37:46

or would you recommend for practicing improve or getting better at it so that way

[justin_lewis] 00:37:52

that aspect of session preparation or camp camp preparation is taken care of

[illideen]:

my favorite game to play is what if and it's all it is and i've

[illideen]:

been doing it since i was a kid because my my dad likes to write

[illideen]:

and so he likes story telling and we always think of of these what if

[illideen]:

scenarios so what

[justin_lewis] 00:38:12

m

[illideen]:

uh you're walking in the in the woods and you see a paul print and

[illideen]:

you want to take a look at it what are you doing and you know

[illideen]:

of course my dad did

[justin_lewis] 00:38:23

m

[illideen]:

thirty

[justin_lewis] 00:38:23

oh

[illideen]:

years in the marine core and i was in boy scout so a lot of

[illideen]:

it had to do with real life he was kind of teaching me life lessons

[thorn]:

oh

[justin_lewis] 00:38:29

oh

[illideen]:

but we took it a step further and added on that fantasy level because obviously

[illideen]:

you know if i'm a kid i like well what if what if

[thorn]:

yeah

[illideen]:

the bear was was flying and he landed right there and i mean my dad

[illideen]:

would just take it and go with it but if you play that with your

[illideen]:

friends or even with you know playing by yourself and thinking about it through your

[illideen]:

head like what if this

[justin_lewis] 00:38:52

m

[illideen]:

happens what if that happens you kind of

[justin_lewis] 00:38:55

oh

[illideen]:

build your own tool box until kit

[justin_lewis] 00:38:58

m

[illideen]:

of improve stuff so when thorn the chaotic dude that he is

[thorn]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:39:02

oh

[illideen]:

throws a a

[thorn]:

yeah

[illideen]:

new

[justin_lewis] 00:39:05

yah

[illideen]:

mercer a group

[thorn]:

yeah

[illideen]:

of warlocks at me

[justin_lewis] 00:39:08

oh

[illideen]:

i go great yeah there's mercenary warlocks they all dress exactly the way you describe

[illideen]:

your character and they are now the divine and on and write that down cool

[illideen]:

the divine divine an has obviously it's a mercenary group so they have a head

[illideen]:

guy

[justin_lewis] 00:39:25

ye

[illideen]:

and the head guy is going to be

[tanner_weyland] 00:39:27

m

[illideen]:

i don't know bobber and just keep on go and from there but all you're

[illideen]:

doing is is

[justin_lewis] 00:39:32

oh

[illideen]:

just playing that what if that add on game and just adding to it a

[illideen]:

lot of that came from reading background i read

[justin_lewis] 00:39:41

m

[illideen]:

a lot of books i watch a ton of content i mean i

[justin_lewis] 00:39:46

m

[illideen]:

keep mentioning mat mercer because i've seen almost all of critical role

[justin_lewis] 00:39:50

m

[illideen]:

you know dimension on all those things if you watch those things

[justin_lewis] 00:39:53

oh

[illideen]:

it's absolutely impossible not to soak up some of that creativity because

[justin_lewis] 00:40:00

oh

[illideen]:

i mean even watching a regular t regular

[justin_lewis] 00:40:03

m

[illideen]:

v show on like netflix or something

[justin_lewis] 00:40:06

m

[illideen]:

you're getting somebody else's story and so now that story

[justin_lewis] 00:40:10

hm

[illideen]:

is at least in the very back of your

[justin_lewis] 00:40:12

m

[illideen]:

mind and if something just happens to trigger it you know then you can you

[illideen]:

just play off of it

[thorn]:

now

[justin_lewis] 00:40:20

ah i love

[thorn]:

i

[justin_lewis] 00:40:21

that

[thorn]:

did something

[justin_lewis] 00:40:21

i love

[thorn]:

very

[justin_lewis] 00:40:22

that

[thorn]:

similar like back in high school we would start a story like we

[justin_lewis] 00:40:27

oh

[thorn]:

i had a pretty large group of just like nerves

[justin_lewis] 00:40:29

oh

[thorn]:

friends you know we were all just

[justin_lewis] 00:40:31

m

[thorn]:

playing the indian stuff like that so we would one person would start a story

[thorn]:

the next person will take it over and then the next person will take it

[thorn]:

over and when you do that with you know five or six people you can

[justin_lewis] 00:40:43

oh

[thorn]:

get a pretty in depth story going on and so it was very similar what

[thorn]:

wlilidin said but we were just telling

[justin_lewis] 00:40:53

m

[thorn]:

whichever kind of story you want and i mean it was fun we do

[tanner_weyland] 00:40:57

oh

[thorn]:

it i mean sometimes we do it for hours just in a circle

[justin_lewis] 00:41:00

oh

[thorn]:

just in go keep going and it really taught me a lot about improbleabout coming

[thorn]:

up with stuff just on the fly but one thing that we've done for raven

[thorn]:

because she wanted to learn more about coming off the cuff is she just ran

[thorn]:

a campaign with no prep and

[tanner_weyland] 00:41:16

wow

[thorn]:

had us

[justin_lewis] 00:41:17

m

[thorn]:

in it

[tanner_weyland] 00:41:18

oh

[thorn]:

and that's always a lot of chaos so it really it's tater a lot about

[thorn]:

about

[tanner_weyland] 00:41:24

oh

[thorn]:

where to go when somebody brings up something that you're not expecting and it really

[thorn]:

is tater a lot about improvin coming up both of the stuff just off

[justin_lewis] 00:41:32

m

[thorn]:

a fresh mind

[tanner_weyland] 00:41:33

o

[justin_lewis] 00:41:36

i love that

[bonedaddy]:

also one thing i like to do with newer players that i play with is

[bonedaddy]:

if we're if they're trying to learn how to work more off the costan off

[bonedaddy]:

of in proof is that i'll have them i'll have them come to a campaign

[justin_lewis] 00:41:52

m

[bonedaddy]:

with no idea

[tanner_weyland] 00:41:52

m

[bonedaddy]:

with what they're going to expect like no back story no nothing and just bring

[bonedaddy]:

the barest bone

[justin_lewis] 00:41:58

m

[bonedaddy]:

of character of their like just a basic idea of what they want to be

[bonedaddy]:

then from there we'll just build on it together like we'll go through and i

[bonedaddy]:

will present situations

[justin_lewis] 00:42:08

m

[bonedaddy]:

and scenarios like the what if situations that team is talking about and from those

[bonedaddy]:

situations i'll build on to their characters for them and they'll write it down and

[bonedaddy]:

write down like this is an aspect of their story and i have them come

[bonedaddy]:

out but they're on the spot and i'll i'll provide like if their stuff which

[bonedaddy]:

is a very common thing and i'll provide a little like anecdotes like i'd be

[bonedaddy]:

like oh like do you think this is something they would enjoy and then like

[bonedaddy]:

kind of they would

[justin_lewis] 00:42:34

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

work off of that presented idea and it would kind of like spark something else

[bonedaddy]:

in them that we eventually just by the end of it they build a character

[bonedaddy]:

and we've gone through like a little scenario that it could lead somewhere it couldn't

[bonedaddy]:

like i mean

[justin_lewis] 00:42:48

m

[bonedaddy]:

it's just little situations little conflicts we're dealing with yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:42:55

uh

[justin_lewis] 00:42:55

it's awesome go ahead

[tanner_weyland] 00:42:56

oh

[justin_lewis] 00:42:56

elden

[tanner_weyland] 00:42:56

yeah

[illideen]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:42:57

m

[illideen]:

there is a a way for the story

[justin_lewis] 00:43:01

m

[illideen]:

weaver to help new players select a bonded as saying is giving these prompts

[justin_lewis] 00:43:07

m

[illideen]:

um if you are

[tanner_weyland] 00:43:09

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:43:10

oh

[illideen]:

let's say just in the middle of combat and they well

[justin_lewis] 00:43:13

m

[illideen]:

i i cast fireball okay cool you cast fireball how does that happen how describe

[illideen]:

the fireball does it come out of your hand is it a laser beam is

[illideen]:

that you know whatever it is describe that and that is the simplest way

[justin_lewis] 00:43:29

m

[illideen]:

to use the word lightly but force the player to roll play because they

[justin_lewis] 00:43:35

m

[illideen]:

have to think of the detail

[justin_lewis] 00:43:38

yea

[illideen]:

you know think of a color of the spell think of how you know it

[illideen]:

shoots out do you have tattoos does your character i use that tattoo to flow

[illideen]:

um and it it kind of gets those juices flowing and the other thing that

[illideen]:

i love doing

[justin_lewis] 00:43:52

m

[illideen]:

is if they have a paragraph of back or just a paragraph can make a

[illideen]:

full on

[justin_lewis] 00:44:00

oh

[illideen]:

book worth of story it it can make an entire campaign and if you are

[illideen]:

in the campaign and these

[justin_lewis] 00:44:07

oh

[illideen]:

players have come they they come to you with even one sentence back story okay

[illideen]:

i was raised by wolves great you know what's going to happen to your wolf

[justin_lewis] 00:44:18

m

[illideen]:

pack and you know

[justin_lewis] 00:44:21

uh

[illideen]:

it's it's something that you can you can twist especially

[justin_lewis] 00:44:24

yeah

[illideen]:

if you're doing a horror story hey that wolf pack they're now wear wolfs um

[illideen]:

and you have to either try and hear the licenthroppe maybe you get bit you

[illideen]:

know things like that can happen and it can

[tanner_weyland] 00:44:37

m

[illideen]:

really be anything one of our favorites that we like to talk about is thorn

[illideen]:

and i used lady hawk the movie

[tanner_weyland] 00:44:45

yeah

[illideen]:

to come up with his dual

[tanner_weyland] 00:44:48

yeah

[illideen]:

characters he played two characters at the same

[thorn]:

oh

[illideen]:

time that were twins and we we just kind of home bred a little bit

[illideen]:

of a mechanic

[thorn]:

ah

[illideen]:

and you know by day you know the the sister was awake and the brother

[illideen]:

was a wolf and the you know the opposite was true the sister was the

[illideen]:

hawk the brother was the elvin form and it was interesting that we came up

[illideen]:

with the basic concept and then i said you know what ud be interesting if

[illideen]:

bain was the person who changed your your forms maybe it was a curse and

[illideen]:

using his back story putting it into the campaign we had a whole i don't

[illideen]:

know six or seven session story arc just for his characters and because of that

[illideen]:

it made thorn really have to think about his back story how does it affect

[illideen]:

the care actors themselves how do they react

[justin_lewis] 00:45:49

oh

[illideen]:

you know differently to other players because they've already been scorned once by a god

[tanner_weyland] 00:45:55

yeah

[illideen]:

how are you how re they going to react to other n p cs and

[illideen]:

things that so if the story weaver can just use even a small port their

[illideen]:

back story it

[justin_lewis] 00:46:07

m

[illideen]:

can really get them to engage

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:12

okay yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:46:12

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:13

that's great

[justin_lewis] 00:46:15

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:15

one question i've had you know since we're talking a lot about like you know

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:19

we've talked about how hey you can avoid having to prep a lot for a

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:23

session if you've done a lot of preparation for the campaign in general we've also

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:27

talked about i improve

[justin_lewis] 00:46:28

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:29

so i'm wondering in your guys's opinion is there any specific like say that you've

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:35

done all

[justin_lewis] 00:46:36

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:36

that right you're fairly good at improve you've prepared

[justin_lewis] 00:46:39

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:39

for the campaign in general is there any

[justin_lewis] 00:46:42

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:42

kind of specific and

[justin_lewis] 00:46:46

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:46

h n do get preparation before each session that you can make the can kind

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:51

of elevate the session

[justin_lewis] 00:46:52

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:53

like or do you think

[bonedaddy]:

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:54

it's not really necessary to

[justin_lewis] 00:46:56

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:46:56

write any paragraphs or prepare specific things i'm just curious

[justin_lewis] 00:47:00

m

[thorn]:

yah no i think you can you can prepare

[justin_lewis] 00:47:03

oh

[thorn]:

specific things you can write your paragraphs you can write down

[justin_lewis] 00:47:06

m

[thorn]:

like simple back stories or just what

[justin_lewis] 00:47:09

m

[thorn]:

you what you want out of that session that day

[justin_lewis] 00:47:13

oh

[thorn]:

um i personally when i do it i make sure i try to read back

[thorn]:

on the previous session

[justin_lewis] 00:47:20

m

[thorn]:

notes because you want to be prepared for what has already happened for sure um

[thorn]:

but

[justin_lewis] 00:47:26

m

[thorn]:

you really if you if you want the party to go a certain way or

[thorn]:

if you want to set forth certain specifics that you want to happen that session

[thorn]:

write the bullet points down down what you what you want to have come up

[thorn]:

because believe

[justin_lewis] 00:47:41

m

[thorn]:

or not it's not always just pure chaos you do have a bit of control

[thorn]:

and pointing that gun and aiming it and firing it doesn't mean you're goin to

[thorn]:

hit exactly where you want to you can't be upset if it doesn't that's where

[thorn]:

the improve comes in but if you want to set those specific bullet points down

[thorn]:

there that's perfect that's what you need that's you want to hit that's where you

[thorn]:

want to lead the party

[justin_lewis] 00:48:03

m

[thorn]:

i'm not saying railroad em i'm saying that's where you want this this session to

[thorn]:

aim towards um

[bonedaddy]:

m

[thorn]:

if you play with a bunch of dams like i do that never have as

[thorn]:

it never really goes

[justin_lewis] 00:48:14

oh

[thorn]:

the way you wanted to

[tanner_weyland] 00:48:16

yeah

[thorn]:

but that's okay as

[justin_lewis] 00:48:18

oh

[thorn]:

long as everybody is having fun that's fine but they got

[justin_lewis] 00:48:21

oh

[thorn]:

definitely write down the bullet points and see where the general direction you wanted to

[thorn]:

go

[justin_lewis] 00:48:25

m

[bonedaddy]:

and then adding to that

[justin_lewis] 00:48:28

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

it does get a little easier

[justin_lewis] 00:48:30

oh

[bonedaddy]:

prepicfosession in the beginning as

[justin_lewis] 00:48:33

oh

[bonedaddy]:

you as you play longer with a group because

[justin_lewis] 00:48:36

m

[bonedaddy]:

initially my minutes are very when i when i start with a new

[justin_lewis] 00:48:40

m

[bonedaddy]:

group my notes are very like this is there's some ideas that i have for

[bonedaddy]:

this first session that we could touch on this is the goal that i'm working

[bonedaddy]:

towards i break it down even further

[justin_lewis] 00:48:49

m

[bonedaddy]:

than that and i'm like this is either the conflict or the story

[justin_lewis] 00:48:52

m

[bonedaddy]:

point i want to touch on like possibly within like the first

[justin_lewis] 00:48:56

oh

[bonedaddy]:

session or session number two and then like kind

[justin_lewis] 00:48:59

oh

[bonedaddy]:

of gently leave them there like it's

[justin_lewis] 00:49:02

m

[bonedaddy]:

just they like ilidinwas

[illideen]:

oh

[bonedaddy]:

saying like

[justin_lewis] 00:49:05

ah

[bonedaddy]:

moving moving story beats story points around so that way like they still reach that

[bonedaddy]:

goal is just but they're still doing what they want to do in the thing

[bonedaddy]:

but when you play with people that you play like when you play with them

[bonedaddy]:

for a while it gets easier to know

[justin_lewis] 00:49:22

m

[bonedaddy]:

and because i like playing with torn and iladean

[justin_lewis] 00:49:25

oh

[bonedaddy]:

they play in a game

[tanner_weyland] 00:49:26

m

[bonedaddy]:

of mine i know that i can expect chaos from tourin know i can expect

[bonedaddy]:

laden to work off the chaos from thorn and also slightly chaotic as well a

[bonedaddy]:

little less but a little but also like i know that that's

[justin_lewis] 00:49:38

yah

[bonedaddy]:

going to happen when they're playing together

[justin_lewis] 00:49:40

h

[bonedaddy]:

so i know what

[illideen]:

yes

[bonedaddy]:

i can present and what would work well during that session prep and it's just

[bonedaddy]:

getting to know your players like their play styles what they're what they're looking for

[bonedaddy]:

in

[justin_lewis] 00:49:52

oh

[bonedaddy]:

there in their game in the in the game that they're playing and what their

[bonedaddy]:

care de how their character reacts to things so that's that's one of the ways

[bonedaddy]:

that i prefer my sessions

[justin_lewis] 00:50:07

i like that i really think it's important to know your caryouknow your players and

[justin_lewis] 00:50:14

to your point and kind of what you were talking about earlier thorn about you

[justin_lewis] 00:50:18

know letting your players also add to the prep is there any anything you guys

[justin_lewis] 00:50:25

do specifically saying hey this week you

[illideen]:

m

[justin_lewis] 00:50:28

are prepping this specific aspect player and not necessarily like the whole session but hey

[justin_lewis] 00:50:36

player i need you to write this back story for this n p c or

[justin_lewis] 00:50:40

d you guys do anything like that and if so how do you manage that

[justin_lewis] 00:50:43

and what do you prefer versus what do you not prefer

[illideen]:

thorn and i have a novels worth of text messages back and forth

[justin_lewis] 00:50:51

m

[illideen]:

a lot of things

[justin_lewis] 00:50:53

h

[illideen]:

we do is behind the scenes and i've we have another player penny who he

[illideen]:

loves world building and so i have i have this idea for a council called

[illideen]:

the veiled assembly and i had

[justin_lewis] 00:51:10

m

[illideen]:

the seven characters i had aim for the person i had the general idea

[justin_lewis] 00:51:18

oh

[illideen]:

i said penny here's two

[justin_lewis] 00:51:19

yeah

[illideen]:

sentences you're creating the character and you know luckily

[justin_lewis] 00:51:23

yeah

[illideen]:

like my my group luckily is all d ms so when i say hey create

[illideen]:

a character they're like great i stated

[justin_lewis] 00:51:31

oh

[illideen]:

it i've got a back story

[justin_lewis] 00:51:32

yeah

[illideen]:

here the name here's a

[justin_lewis] 00:51:34

yeah

[illideen]:

here's a secondary if you need

[justin_lewis] 00:51:35

yeah

[illideen]:

it and just go on from there

[justin_lewis] 00:51:38

may

[illideen]:

and a lot of times we'll either get on a zoom call or text back

[illideen]:

and forth but when we did when thornton did the lady hawk thing we i

[illideen]:

mean for weeks we were talking back and forth and it was fun because both

[illideen]:

of us ended up having to re watch the movie

[tanner_weyland] 00:51:54

yeah

[illideen]:

to get a lot more in depth you know we were research right so

[tanner_weyland] 00:51:58

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:51:59

m yeah

[illideen]:

it was

[justin_lewis] 00:52:00

yeah

[illideen]:

it was a lot of fun i definitely say as far as like specific prep

[illideen]:

work if it's you know like bone daddy said if it's a bunch of friends

[illideen]:

lot easier to not have to prep um and to your question you know if

[illideen]:

you want to ask them to come up with

[justin_lewis] 00:52:14

m

[illideen]:

something or you know tell them that hey i'm totally okay with you coming up

[illideen]:

with something on the fly just like the example i gave with thorn and that

[illideen]:

that mercenary warlock

[justin_lewis] 00:52:24

m

[illideen]:

that was in the middle of a session that we were

[justin_lewis] 00:52:26

m

[illideen]:

we were talking and his character just said yeah i'm a part

[justin_lewis] 00:52:30

yeah

[illideen]:

of a mercenary warlock mercenary group but i was like

[justin_lewis] 00:52:34

m

[illideen]:

great yeah write that down cool

[justin_lewis] 00:52:36

m

[tanner_weyland] 00:52:36

oh

[justin_lewis] 00:52:36

h

[illideen]:

so you

[justin_lewis] 00:52:38

m

[illideen]:

know but if

[justin_lewis] 00:52:39

ah

[illideen]:

it's i do the most prep work oddly enough for a one shot i have

[justin_lewis] 00:52:44

m

[illideen]:

the entire story planned out i have all my bullet points my computer is just

[illideen]:

laden with stuff and

[tanner_weyland] 00:52:52

oh

[illideen]:

the last one shot i did i actually had to compute ready to go i

[illideen]:

had everything the story wise on one side i had all my

[justin_lewis] 00:53:01

yeah

[illideen]:

n p cs and towns on the other so that way i didn't ruin the

[illideen]:

emersion ou know like

[justin_lewis] 00:53:07

m

[illideen]:

and do i do i remember who this guy was okay coote like instead i

[illideen]:

could just look over really quick and it helps to have i've volunteered at a

[illideen]:

it's called san and it's a animate convention here in san antonio and bone daddy

[illideen]:

did it as well i had hand outs for the for the players and just

[illideen]:

let em you know hey this is what's going on this is how we're going

[illideen]:

to do things

[justin_lewis] 00:53:36

m

[illideen]:

and do that with our group there is no way i'm doing that i'm not

[illideen]:

printing anything out for these guys there you

[justin_lewis] 00:53:43

yeh

[illideen]:

know

[justin_lewis] 00:53:44

m

[illideen]:

i have been playing with them long enough to where

[tanner_weyland] 00:53:46

yeah

[illideen]:

i know that if i kill thorn's character he's totally cool with it he prefers

[illideen]:

it because of the drama

[tanner_weyland] 00:53:51

yeh

[illideen]:

and it's great

[tanner_weyland] 00:53:53

yeh

[illideen]:

because everyone else at the table even though like let's say raven she hates

[justin_lewis] 00:53:59

m

[illideen]:

her character is dying

[justin_lewis] 00:54:00

oh

[illideen]:

and will do everything in her power in including begging like different gods are arch

[justin_lewis] 00:54:07

m

[illideen]:

and she became a clerk for a god because she didn't want her her character

[illideen]:

to die

[tanner_weyland] 00:54:11

yeah

[illideen]:

it was interesting so it was a wizard a wizard cleric

[tanner_weyland] 00:54:14

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:54:15

yeah

[illideen]:

multi

[tanner_weyland] 00:54:15

m

[justin_lewis] 00:54:16

yeah

[illideen]:

class but with thorn if i ode unquote accidentally kill his character the rest of

[illideen]:

the table still gets that feeling of drama but i haven't hurt thorns feelings you

[illideen]:

know we've talked about it

[justin_lewis] 00:54:28

m

[illideen]:

many many times

[tanner_weyland] 00:54:29

yeah

[illideen]:

you know hey what can i get away with your character he was like i

[illideen]:

don't kno rip an

[justin_lewis] 00:54:33

m

[illideen]:

arm off it's fine you know it's just what we do

[justin_lewis] 00:54:37

ah

[illideen]:

so like i said like playing with friends you can get away with a lot

[illideen]:

more

[bonedaddy]:

don't know how many

[justin_lewis] 00:54:44

excellent

[bonedaddy]:

cons died

[justin_lewis] 00:54:44

so it sounds like oh go ahead

[tanner_weyland] 00:54:46

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

don't know how many tons of diet in illidene campaign so i'm

[tanner_weyland] 00:54:51

m yeah

[thorn]:

blots

[bonedaddy]:

the

[justin_lewis] 00:54:53

yeah

[thorn]:

he died

[justin_lewis] 00:54:56

yeah

[thorn]:

ten minutes

[justin_lewis] 00:54:56

that's excellent

[thorn]:

in

[tanner_weyland] 00:54:58

amazing

[thorn]:

ten minutes

[tanner_weyland] 00:54:59

you

[thorn]:

in

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:00

always

[justin_lewis] 00:55:00

yeah

[thorn]:

he died

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:00

love that got

[thorn]:

it

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:01

to

[thorn]:

was

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:01

love

[thorn]:

great

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:02

it

[thorn]:

and he did it so

[justin_lewis] 00:55:03

yeah

[thorn]:

great it was amazing

[justin_lewis] 00:55:04

yeah

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:05

oh

[justin_lewis] 00:55:06

yeah

[thorn]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:55:07

well

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:07

yeah

[justin_lewis] 00:55:08

well that's awesome well i think we're coming down to the end of the time

[justin_lewis] 00:55:12

we have scheduled with you guys tanner are there any final questions you have for

[justin_lewis] 00:55:17

this dungeon is occupied

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:18

okay if you could give one way for for a new d m to just

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:27

improve their session prep

[justin_lewis] 00:55:28

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:29

give one tip real quick at the end

[justin_lewis] 00:55:32

oh

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:32

for each of you

[thorn]:

oh that's a good one that's that's that's hard because i remember being in

[justin_lewis] 00:55:40

oh

[thorn]:

new d m and it sucked

[justin_lewis] 00:55:42

yeah

[thorn]:

it was

[justin_lewis] 00:55:43

m

[thorn]:

horrible

[justin_lewis] 00:55:44

yeah yeah

[thorn]:

the biggest tip is is don't be a to mess up honestly

[tanner_weyland] 00:55:49

okay

[thorn]:

you're going to make mistakes the store is going go monkey you're goin to mess

[thorn]:

up roles you're not going a know what roles to ask for it's okay

[justin_lewis] 00:55:59

oh

[thorn]:

this is a learning thing you have to learn to do this and to do

[thorn]:

it well

[justin_lewis] 00:56:03

oh

[thorn]:

i'm not saying you can't come in and be amazing from the start but i

[tanner_weyland] 00:56:06

ah

[thorn]:

guarantee united

[justin_lewis] 00:56:07

oh

[thorn]:

percent of the people aren't don't let it discourage you and as long as you

[thorn]:

have good friends at the table and people that are supporting you you're going to

[thorn]:

be fine so just don't

[justin_lewis] 00:56:19

oh

[thorn]:

be afraid to make a mistake because everybody does it

[justin_lewis] 00:56:21

yeah

[thorn]:

i made so many so that's

[justin_lewis] 00:56:25

m

[thorn]:

what i've got

[tanner_weyland] 00:56:25

love that

[justin_lewis] 00:56:27

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

and i would say just just wholeheartedly follow

[tanner_weyland] 00:56:33

m

[bonedaddy]:

if you if you feel like something is working for you then do it like

[bonedaddy]:

everybody works differently one thinks differently and don't let don't let

[justin_lewis] 00:56:43

oh

[bonedaddy]:

anybody

[justin_lewis] 00:56:45

yeah

[bonedaddy]:

i tell you that what you're doing isn't the correct way to do like have

[bonedaddy]:

confidence in what you're doing so if it's working for you if you feel like

[bonedaddy]:

taking if you feel like going in and doing like five pages worth of prep

[bonedaddy]:

like writing a hand written like single space working for you then

[justin_lewis] 00:57:00

oh

[bonedaddy]:

you do that like as long as it as long as you're reaching the goal

[bonedaddy]:

that you want to do you want to have for the game then there

[justin_lewis] 00:57:08

oh

[bonedaddy]:

isn't any reason the way you're doing it is any better or worse than how

[bonedaddy]:

anyone else does it

[tanner_weyland] 00:57:16

great

[illideen]:

yeah and kind of adding on to that something that we say in

[justin_lewis] 00:57:22

oh

[illideen]:

our patriot podcast part is steal everything and have fun that is our rule for

[illideen]:

table top because if i can take star wars and change it into d and

[illideen]:

five everyone at our table loves star worse why the heck not let's do it

[illideen]:

or that whole story

[justin_lewis] 00:57:40

hm

[illideen]:

if you want to be luke sky walker let's

[justin_lewis] 00:57:42

oh

[illideen]:

go for it we're going to do it

[justin_lewis] 00:57:46

m

[illideen]:

and the thing is is if i'm not having fun why am i playing a

[illideen]:

game it's in the word play so just have fun with it and you know

[illideen]:

like thorn and bone daddy said like

[justin_lewis] 00:57:57

m

[illideen]:

if if you're just going to sit down and you're going to do all this

[illideen]:

prep work that we've been talking about all episode and then you get to the

[illideen]:

table and you're like man i'm i am

[justin_lewis] 00:58:09

oh

[illideen]:

not feeling this

[justin_lewis] 00:58:10

yah ah

[illideen]:

i just have to stop like

[justin_lewis] 00:58:13

m

[illideen]:

that's going to ruin i mean that could ruin friendships

[justin_lewis] 00:58:16

ye

[illideen]:

like you know like if you guys all plan this out and then you get

[illideen]:

here and you're ike you know what f your story man like i'm done with

[illideen]:

this like that's that's

[justin_lewis] 00:58:25

m

[illideen]:

going to be heartbreaking so just make sure that you're having fun if it becomes

[illideen]:

a job if it's a shore like man

[justin_lewis] 00:58:32

oh

[illideen]:

i've got to i've got to pray for this next session like then we've got

[illideen]:

to slow down maybe talk to your party so hey guys i need a break

[illideen]:

from deming for a little bit

[justin_lewis] 00:58:40

oh

[illideen]:

who wants to take next you know to change the story up do

[justin_lewis] 00:58:44

oh

[illideen]:

one shot that's something that we've done as well is like if we're playing a

[illideen]:

campaign

[justin_lewis] 00:58:48

oh

[illideen]:

and i'm noticing that the table is starting to slow down you know the

[justin_lewis] 00:58:53

oh

[illideen]:

players are not quite into it as much guess what we're doing at one shot

[illideen]:

is the one shot part of the world i could make it that way but

[illideen]:

if we're going to go

[justin_lewis] 00:59:02

m

[illideen]:

down to

[justin_lewis] 00:59:03

m

[illideen]:

sugar cane candy land and play with some i don't know ginger bread n p

[illideen]:

c we're just going to do it

[justin_lewis] 00:59:11

oh

[illideen]:

for fun and it's going to be great

[tanner_weyland] 00:59:12

m

[illideen]:

and bone daddy's done halloween sessions before we've done a christmas session with a ol

[illideen]:

cat those different things and it's funny because

[justin_lewis] 00:59:23

m

[illideen]:

we did the one shot we got our our juices flow and we kind of

[illideen]:

relaxed a little

[justin_lewis] 00:59:26

m

[illideen]:

bit everybody laughed and you know we had some egg nog at the same time

[justin_lewis] 00:59:32

m

[illideen]:

the items that we got from the one shot it over into the the regular

[illideen]:

campaign because why not it's there it's fun and then

[justin_lewis] 00:59:39

oh

[illideen]:

all hell broke loose because one of our

[justin_lewis] 00:59:43

m

[illideen]:

party members had a staff that when it did magic it was like all christmas

[illideen]:

trees

[justin_lewis] 00:59:50

yeah

[illideen]:

and and like ten els and things like that

[justin_lewis] 00:59:53

oh

[illideen]:

and so like you if we were in the halloween town and like right here's

[illideen]:

a christmas tree

[tanner_weyland] 00:59:59

uh

[illideen]:

so

[justin_lewis] 00:59:59

m

[illideen]:

but

[tanner_weyland] 01:00:01

h

[justin_lewis] 01:00:01

hm

[illideen]:

you know just just having

[justin_lewis] 01:00:02

oh

[illideen]:

that fun it lets you breathe that's that's the most important part

[justin_lewis] 01:00:09

well all of that is super insightful i yeah i don't know if i can

[justin_lewis] 01:00:15

say anything else that would supersede that or be better so i think we better

[justin_lewis] 01:00:21

leave with giving our audience an opportunity to reach out to you support you or

[justin_lewis] 01:00:25

see what you're up to so how and they get in touch with all of

[justin_lewis] 01:00:28

you or or however

[tanner_weyland] 01:00:30

yah

[justin_lewis] 01:00:30

you prefer

[illideen]:

yeah firstly i mean thanks for having us on it's been awesome honor and honestly

[illideen]:

every thing is in our link tree so link l i n k t r

[illideen]:

dot slash

[justin_lewis] 01:00:44

m

[illideen]:

this dungeon is occupied

[justin_lewis] 01:00:45

yeah

[illideen]:

pod and we're on

[justin_lewis] 01:00:49

yeah

[illideen]:

all the platforms were on we're technically on tik tok i haven't done a video

[illideen]:

and ages but we're on

[justin_lewis] 01:00:54

yeah

[illideen]:

tik tok ere on instagram facebook and all that jazsowe'll have that link over to

[illideen]:

you for the show notes but

[tanner_weyland] 01:01:01

erfect

[illideen]:

that's the easiest way to get in contact

[justin_lewis] 01:01:05

excellent yeah listener all of that will be in the show notes make sure you

[justin_lewis] 01:01:09

reach out to them and they do have an extra special patron part of their

[justin_lewis] 01:01:15

podcast which if you want you can actually see some behind the scenes talk when

[justin_lewis] 01:01:20

tanner and i were on their show so go check out their patron and make

[justin_lewis] 01:01:23

sure you guys sign up for that

[tanner_weyland] 01:01:25

yah

[justin_lewis] 01:01:25

i think i think that was a good show guys i think we did it

[justin_lewis] 01:01:28

anything

[tanner_weyland] 01:01:29

ah

[justin_lewis] 01:01:29

else anyone wants to say before we let our listener

[tanner_weyland] 01:01:31

oh

[justin_lewis] 01:01:31

go

[thorn]:

now just thanks

[tanner_weyland] 01:01:32

yeah

[thorn]:

for having us this has been an amazing experience for us we've

[justin_lewis] 01:01:35

yeah

[thorn]:

never been interviewed for another

[justin_lewis] 01:01:36

yeah

[thorn]:

podcast before so this has been a blast just

[justin_lewis] 01:01:40

oh

[thorn]:

really just thanks for having us

[justin_lewis] 01:01:42

oh

[tanner_weyland] 01:01:43

erect love to having you guys

[justin_lewis] 01:01:44

thank you guys and agreed like you would never have known that this was your

[justin_lewis] 01:01:50

guys first time you guys are naturals and hopefully with you guys

[thorn]:

oh

[illideen]:

oh

[justin_lewis] 01:01:56

on many more podcasts rather than just on how to be a d m and

[justin_lewis] 01:02:00

this tension is occupied

[illideen]:

yeah

[justin_lewis] 01:02:02

but

[thorn]:

ah

[justin_lewis] 01:02:02

listener thank you guys for thank you

[tanner_weyland] 01:02:04

oh

[justin_lewis] 01:02:05

this tension is occupied for being

[thorn]:

yah

[justin_lewis] 01:02:06

here with us and listener make sure you guys come back next week for another

[justin_lewis] 01:02:10

awesome show but until then let's go ahead and a roll

[thorn]:

yah

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