Summary of Running the Game Intro

Why Create The Dad Bard?

It was November 2017, and for some reason I was thinking about D&D again. I was an avid board gamer and had various run-ins with D&D over the years, but it wasn't something I ever decided to try. Or more importantly, it wasn't something I thought I would be comfortable with. Even if I was, I wasn't sure how to go about getting involved in a game. However, that November I decided I was going to try it. I texted one of my younger brothers and asked him if he wanted to learn with me. I downloaded the Basic Rules and learned all I could. I then found a ready-made tutorial/module on roll20 and we played the module like it was board game with the rules sitting there in front of us the whole time. We had enough fun that we invited other family members to join our game.

I remember being scared because I had no idea what I was doing. Becoming a DM made me feel vulnerable. I wanted to be a good DM, but I wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off. I searched online for some advice for new DMs. I ran into a few Reddit posts with some basic tips, but I felt I needed more. Eventually, I ran into a Reddit comment which recommended the Running the Game series by Matt Colville.

I love the advice Matt has shared with new DMs (though anyone could learn from his videos). Much of what I do is affected on some level by what he has shared. Sometimes it means I go against what he says, but he is one of the main DMs that I look up to when it comes to getting advice. I have recently seen on his subreddit that several people were looking for summaries of his videos. I was already kicking the idea around to create a blog for my own stuff. This was the push I needed to get me to blog about my own game and stories as well as summaries for the Running the Game videos. The other videos will have to be a project for a different day.

Summary

I almost skipped this video as part of this blogging series, but I am glad I didn't. Matt's words were so powerful and impactful from the get-go. His first words have become famous among his fans. “Hi Everybody, my name is Matt Colville, and as you can see I am a white, middle-class, middle-aged nerd. And if you guessed, ‘I bet that guy plays D&D,’ you would be correct.”

Wow. "Who is this guy and what is he going to teach me?" was my initial thought. Re-watching it made me laugh.

The following are some main points from the video. In the future I will time stamp them, but this video was so short just go watch it again.

- The goal is to turn you from someone who wants to play D&D to someone who wants to run D&D.

- Do not compare yourself to more experienced DMs.

- When you start out you will be terrible. But if you get new players together they won’t know you are terrible, and you will get better!

Conclusion

At the end of the video, Matt quotes a movie called Lawrence of Arabia saying, “I am a river to my people”. And that he is. The advice in this video is huge and has been a big influence to help me become more comfortable with running my own game. Through this blog, I hope to be able to add to the things Matt has taught in his videos and show another, different DM style.The following are some main points from the video. In the future, I will time stamp them, but this video was so short just go watch it again.

If you would like to see anything added to the list or have any thoughts/questions post them in the comments!

Coming next: I still plan on doing a post about my campaign setting. I will also be posting Running the Game Summary #1: Your First Adventure.