How to Build Compelling Characters

Just as a small advice for those of you who feel like they did burn out or are in the process of burning out:
The game you're currently running doesn't need to be the game you're running the next few sessions.
We all feel better if a story comes to a natural end point, but don't force yourself into getting there, especially if you think it might take a while.
You can switch to a one-shot, to a different setting, or an entirely different system and run either for a while until you recharged, or you can even have another player take up the mantel and let yourself get a different perspective altogether.
Last year I've had run into a lull with a long running campaign of mine where it felt like a chore to prepare for the next game session and I just talked to my players and ran a Vampire: The Masquerade - Hunters Hunted game with them for a couple months instead.
What most people need is a change of pace, some different flavour to what has become something all too familiar and therefore stale. That doesn't mean that the older campaign is over necessarily. Allow yourself the option, but don't deny yourself the possibility of coming back to that campaign.
Personally I feel like changing up as much as possible is the best way of regaining your passion for that story. When I ran the Hunters Hunted game I specifically said that I need a different system to play or run in for a while in order to really gain some distance while at the same time keep playing with my friends, and after the story was done - it was set up in a way that I knew it was only going to be this one story that would be done, but ended so that we could potentially revisit it in the future - I was feeling completely recharged.
So as Brennan said: Don't fear burn out.
Just know that "pressing on" is not "dealing with it". Giving yourself some room and a change of flavour is.

Your talking about The hero with 1000 faces. Definitely worth a read. Story telling has followed a formula for thousands of years.

Reminder that very little of this applies to games outside of D&D. Like, this is foundational stuff for golden path style games like railroady adventure paths. But if you want to run a hexcrawl or something less distictly "muh story" oriented, this will just bore your OSR players.

all my players made their characters on their own, all of them but one are religious, which happens to work with the theme of my game. the one who is not religious is an athiest so there should be some fun interactions.

BLM is my favorite person on The TV.

Hi from Wayfinder!!

Start with the world, then the characters, then the plot. The world produces the characters who live in that world, and from the characters arises the plot. Guess who I learned this from? That's right! it was Brennan, as our group wrote what we later referred to as "The Best Game Ever."

You are easily one of my favorite sentient beings.

How can u help ur pc’s to make their characters?

Wow this was so helpful

Can confirm that it tends to go better when you're not 10, my first campaign was when I was 12 and it went great!

(My next one was shit)

Which books do you recommend for learning improv?

I know this old and I’m late but another of an active hero is captain America, he went out of his way to try fight in WWII even when I he wasn’t fit and accepted the first opportunity to do so when it presented it self even if it was an unorthodox way to go about it.

we need this series back

Thoughts feelings goals desires

Feeling it SO MUCH about the 'got my character, I'll see you there' thing. I'm a pretty new player so I wasn't sure if it was just me being unreasonable to want a bit more prior information on sessions
Example... My first ever game, all the info I got was "There's a space available on this date, come along." The organiser knew it would be my first game and I let them know I might need a little guidance to make sure I'm doing stuff right. So I did some reading and made a character that I thought would be fun. Turn up to the session and it turns out to be an in-progress campaign, but I'm here now so let's go I guess! So I sit down at the table (again, for the first time) where everybody there already knows each other because it's an ongoing thing, and the first thing the DM says, "So this is a homebrew campaign, hope that's okay. It's set in an alternate-reality modern-day city where the players are investigating a cultist plot. One of the characters is a paranormal investigator, one is literally a giant pigeon who doesn't speak. How does your character arrive?" All nice people, but the experience very much put me off trying to get involved in public games.

"without further ado"

And that's when I disliked the video and stopped watching. I am at a 0% tolerance for those three words now.

One of my favorite ways to deal with an absence at the table is to make the session, if possible, about why that player is missing. We're they kidnapped? Killed? Did they betray the other players?

This is just the in game justification but it allows the other players to feel like an actual session is happening, which will affect the plot overall even if that particular session started as 'filler'.

Thoughts as I watched...

"Treating your player characters like the main characters of a story." - just not in the George R. R. Martin way.

The DM's job starts with character creation - I guess I'm in, and have always been in, that minority the overwhelming majority of the time. Lucky for it, I'd say. Characters are created generally with the knowledge of the GM's campaign and to make sense in that campaign. And I've been gaming since . . uh . . (does some quick math) . .since about "YOU DAMN KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN" ago.

Rewriting the world - I, you know, may have kinda sorta made a lot more work for my GM in one campaign. I was playing a rogue sort of character, and, to protect himself in certain situations, he would switch to different aliases. Often with different accents. Each time I did, my GM was like "Welp, I guess that's a place that exists now." I might have accidentally created five entirely new nations/cultural regions in his game.

Improv - I've got a particular favorite moment. The GM took a restroom break, and another player, in character, made a comment about hoping a family member wasn't still angry at him, and my character inquired. Back and forth, and it was relatively short, but became a rather hilarious argument about family obligations and ethics, ending with
Me (a mob "collections specialist"): "I don't think I'm comfortable working with someone who has such shoddy ethics."
Him (college grad, family runs a fast food restaurant chain): "I can't believe I'm having an ethics debate with a guy who kills people for a living!"
Me: "THAT IS NOT PERSONAL!!! THAT'S JUST BUSINESS!!"
all in the brief period of time while the GM was not present.

One hilarious moment for my group was when the DM for one of our campaigns just told us to make characters and bring them in on the day. We ended up with 5 warlocks and a paladin who's story was about getting vengeance on fiends.

I don't know if anyone will read this, probably not, but I decided to watch this series after catching some Dimension 20 and realizing I really probably can play RPGs.

I tried a long time ago in the late 90s and was rejected for various reasons, usually pertaining to my gender, and lack of experience. I gave up and stayed pretty far away from the community but I've always wanted to try, now it's just hard to trust people.

I feel that the person who told you that you have to stick with what you wrote is kind of like saying that the ego of the DM is more important than the story progressing in other ways if that's a possibility.

"Your character is deeply in debt"

Gunnie fans take note

ily

love the end cut of Brennan snacking

I'm an author (who once DMed a ton) and I wanted to say this is better writing advice than I've gotten from the last several years' worth of videos specifically about writing. My story is pretty intense and my own standards are ridiculous so I get stuck a lot. Thanks so much, Brennan. ❤

I can’t imagine DMing for the first time as a 10 year old. My first DMing experience was recently, in my mid-20s, and it’s still been stressful. I’m loving it though!

When dealing with a one/two session absences the character just gets a cold, food poisoning, or if they were just in battle need to rest due to injury and just stay at camp (why not just heal them? they dont have the right spell to deal with a common cold, the injury wasnt worth the spell slot when they just need to sit down for a day or so, "im not healing you each time you ignore my advise and eat dubious meat. go deal with your problem you got yourself into by yourself")

This is my first time DMing, and only one of my pc's want a back story, all he gave me was two sentences, and when I try and find out more about it he just doesn't respond lol. So I just sent a couple sentence summary on where they'd be coming from and a couple of possible reasons to why they are on this adventure, but maybe next time I'll try and make the first session a character creator session

2024 why dear god did he ever stop with these q&a video’s 😢

I’ve wanted to DM for my friends for a long time now and this has given me confidence to pursue it. 🎉🎉🎉

"obligation is the death of fun"

I would say that, unless you are running an omniscient being, you must be very careful changing your story, especially in combat based on your players attacks and tactics because this can be somewhat unfair, especially if you’ve already determined the tactics of your villain and and your players outwit him .

two things you always wanna do when making a character or slotting it in to fit the campaign is let the DM known what your gunna do and if necessary tell them about the characters general back story and known associates

I can't wait to meet my class next semester. I hope they enjoy their D&D inspired class. <happy dance>

I need more adventuring academy

Based on your Authorial Purpose point, I completely agree. Even more so, I say often what is improvised is BETTER than what was already written, because through the creative process of sitting around a table with a bunch of friends, in that excitement and mental flow, and due to the character’s own actions or comments that narrative becomes more immersive.

It goes along the same lines of “if there is a rule working against the players fun, and there is no real reason to use it, ignore the rule”. Ignore whatever material you have already written if forcing that narrative will not produce the same or greater enjoyment at the table.

You are such an amazing person, the world is so much cooler and nicer with you in it. Much love from the future

Is Adventuring Academy: After Office Hours on Dropout? I watch Adventuring Academy on Dropout, but can't seem to find the after office hours stuff

Halfling rogue. Grew up in Berryshire, his parents are famous strawberry wine brewers. Why am I a rogue far from home?

I definitely had a sort of strike gold moment in my first campaign. I ran two of them at the same time for different groups that happened to go through my world in the opposite order, so the second half of the campaign for both of them was way better as I had active feedback from both sides to improve it for the other group when they got there. Definitely have struggled to live up to the bar I set for myself with subsequent campaigns, though. Hoping this next one I'm starting in a couple weeks can do so!

Love you, Brennan. Watching you run Dimension20’s Fantasy High inspired me to return to the DM chair.

On the burnout subject. I becane manager of a board game shop and I started running DnD games five nights a week to drum up clients. I DM'd half and my brother DM'd half.

I was terrifhed at first. "Man, this is gonna make me hate my favourite hobby by turning it into a chore." Turns out, no! DnD is like orgasms, I will never get tired if it.

for one of the doctors, cant remember which one(only have access to 2005-now) for whatever reason didnt want to do more episodes, so they just opened the next one with him falling over and dying from behind then the next doctor stood up
im gonna straight up do that if one of my players quit once i start dming