D&D General What are your favorite DM Advice Media?

[pogre]

Matt Coville's style seems to match mine. I have not watched his game streams, but the "advice" he gives is solid, if not necessarily all that groundbreaking.

I will have to check out some of these other resources. I'm with @el-remmen on actual play streams, but I have forced myself to watch a few. My conclusion is that my table plays the game WAY differently than most.

Here on ENWorld, I would say my style mirrors a lot of what @iserith has mentioned in his posts. We seem to have similar DMing philosophies and I enjoy his posts.

 

[p_johnston]

To add in one that hasn't been mentioned yet Dice Friends by loading ready run, especially anything run by Dale. They are play videos so skip if you don't like that kind of thing but Dale is the best GM I've ever seen.

 

[Maxperson]

I love Matt Colville. Occasionally I learn something from him, but for the most part he just ends up validating what I already do. And we all love to be validated.

 

[Nefermandias]

Angry is the absolute best.

 

[payn]

Paizo forums have a board for each and every adventure path. I have found them invaluable for running them.

 

[Quickleaf]

Dael Kingsmill (MonarchsFactory) is another excellent one that belongs on this list.

 

[Reynard]

It's interesting: since I orginally posted this thread, I have kind of fallen out of love with Web DM. I don't know if their format chancged or I just kind of got tired of them. I still like Matt Colville though and wish he would post more.

What I think is missing from the D&Dosphere is more experienced DM discussions. Most everything is aimed at new DMs and while I recognize the need I wish we talked more about advanced topics for experienced players and GMs. A few friends and I are considering forming a "D&D DM Debate Club" built for tackling broad topics from an experienced perspective.

 

[Burnside]

There's something about Colville's cadence/delivery/energy level that I just can't quite get past. Have never been able to more than a minute or two into of one of his vids. Many people find him very helpful though.

I enjoy Dungeon Dudes (the commentary/analysis videos - their actual play is above average but I still couldn't stick with it).

As a reviewer, I think Eric Watson (RogueWatson) is excellent.

Actual play in general is very, very hard to do watchably. Many folks seem to think you can just record your group playing totally unedited, but unless you are Critical Role this doesn't really work for me. TBH even Critical Role has its issues, but they have set a high bar.

Dice, Camera, Action, had a strong following and I watched 20 or so episodes in prep for running Curse of Strahd. It was very helpful in seeing how Perkins ran the adventure, and how remarkably patient he is with his players, but I wouldn't say it was actually an enjoyable experience as a piece of entertainment and I finally had to tap out.

Playing D&D and performing/playing for an audience are quite different. I did enjoy the first season of The Adventure Zone podcast, and some of Relics and Rarities was quite good. But those are both edited to improve the experience for the audience. There have been isolated games during WotC's big streaming events that were fun (not the Rime of the Frostmaiden one; those were all dreadful despite the big name talent - to be fair technical difficulties were the biggest problem).

I'm part of an actual play podcast of Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus that launched last year. The players and DM are all actors/writers/directors with years of experience, but even so I think our show would be unlistenable without post-production editing.

 

[Reynard]

As a reviewer, I think Eric Watson (RogueWatson) is excellent.

I'll check them out. I am always looking for actual in depth reviewers, since most YT reviewers are doing flip throughs without much actual experience with the material.

 

[GlassJaw]

Hmm, necro but a good one.

Surprised to see only one mention of The Alexandrian. To me, it's by FAR the best, and if I could only pick one, it would be this hands down.

The Alexandrian

Welcome to The Alexandrian!

thealexandrian.net

Absolutely amazing stuff. So much of my approach to running a game is from his blog. He started a YouTube channel recently as well.

His tips on running a sandbox, how to handle mysteries, giving clues, etc are priceless. His blog has been around a long time so there is a wealth of info. This is one of my favorites:

Don’t Prep Plots

If you're GMing a roleplaying game, you should never prep a plot.Everyone's tastes are different. These matters are subjective. What works for one person won't necessarily work for another. Yada

thealexandrian.net