MATT: Hello! My name is Matthew Mercer. I am a
voice actor and the Dungeon Master for Critical Role here at Geek & Sundry, and today's episode of
GM tips is going to discuss some suggestions I have should you be inspired to homebrew your own
RPG content. [intro music] Now homebrewing, or creating original game content
for a campaign or system, can be very inspiring and fulfilling, whether it be creating your own
character class options or new ideas for abilities and equipment, it's an exercise in design and
creative writing that can really improve your understanding of the game, and aide in customizing
your players' experiences. It's also a process fraught with many challenges, and easily-made
mistakes. Here, I hope to discuss a few of these elements to help you take a crack at it, should
you be so inclined. First up, custom player content. This generally
involves new player options not in the official books. Using D&D as an example, the creation of
new feats, new class abilities or archetypes, and entirely new character classes would fall into
this category. Now, mind you, homebrew isn't only the realm of the GM either. Designing new spells
for your sorcerer is a fun and creative pastime for many players, and originally how some of these
damn spells got designed in the first place. I'm looking at you, Melf and Bigby. Which, by the way,
is there no greater name for a mage than Melf? It's like you already know about him with just
that. Take a guess what sex and race Melf was. Also, can I mention, his flair for alliteration?
Man, it's all been downhill since. Anyway, before you do anything, perhaps have a decent knowledge
of the rules as well. Now, when designing new player features and
options, first, begin with the idea. What makes it unique and cool against all the existing options?
Does it add a missing mechanical element to your games, or bring a fun new narrative flavor to it?
Write down the messy initial design and function of the new idea. Wow, that was complicated and
over written, isn't it? That's okay! Now, think about the terminology and how you can condense and
simplify it. Use existing rules and similar abilities in the core books as inspiration for
verbage. Try your best to make it as concise and easy to understand as possible. Now, following the design, do some research to
make sure it hasn't already been done. Look on the internet, scour come homebrew forums, and wikis
for existing content that is similar to what you've designed. This will help inform you if
you've wandered into already-treaded territory. And, if you have, that's okay! You now have a
great example to learn from and can now either adopt elements of or the entire existing homebrew
or alter your own design to be unique against the discovered predecessor. Just remember, if you
borrow or use existing homebrew content, always give credit. Seriously. Next, compare the power level and capability of
the new feature to existing official abilities. Our instincts sometimes is to make something cool
also be <i>really fucking powerful</i>! And you can use this period to reel is back a bit, and try to
balance it within the game system. Consider many different scenarios you can see this ability being
used in. Consider any possible synergies it may have with other character class abilities, items,
or feats that might make it unintentionally strong. Even playtest it yourself, or with the
willing friend who is happy to work for pizza or backrubs, in a number of stress test circumstances
or scenarios where you feel it could be exploited. Then, record your feedback, and adjust or tweak
the ability to better fit within the existing boundaries of the game system’s balance. When designing new character classes, repeat the
above steps for each new feature once you've completed the initial design. I know, it's a
lengthy process, but it's also extremely important to ensure you both learn about the core boundaries
of the system’s intended balance, and it helps you end up feeling like you've made something wholly
unique and fresh. The next step will require some bravery, and while
not required, I highly recommend it. Post your design on the internet for feedback. There are
some amazing communities that enjoy and focus on homebrew content, and aiding in its creation. Like
Reddit's D&D Homebrew, or Unearthed Arcana Communities. Many experienced designers, with a
keen eye for the pitfalls of early homebrew can quickly help you shape up your design. Some of
these same people can sometimes be rather blunt and dry with their feedback. But know it comes
from a place of honest intent to help. And don't take any of it personally please. We are all in
these places of the web to share and learn. Now, when you're feeling confident in your design,
go ahead and offer it to your players. Have them take a read and perhaps one or more may with to
give it a spin in the future. If not, no worries. You have plenty of NPCs who can bring it on down
the road. There are also emerging places where you can
upload your homebrew content for others to use and enjoy. The aforementioned reddit communities also
enjoy completed homebrew releases, as well as the DM's Guild at dmsguild.com, an official community
open store where you can upload your completed D&D content for the community to purchase, write, and
utilize. Even possibly make you a little pocket change. I would recommend you read the guidelines
for such places before uploading to ensure the quality of the materials you present and the legal
details are kosher with you. This is also a great resource for researching any existing content that
may be similar to your design in earlier stages. Now if you are a player designing new abilities,
items, or spells for your character to utilize, you can go through all these same steps, but you
have one big difference. You need to also work with your GM and their approval. They will be a
great resources, and really the only needed source to use this for your home game, through the
process. And it's their final approval you need before you can use any of your designs. Let them
know early of your intent. I hope these have been helpful for you and any other tips you may have
picked up in this video. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you on the internet. [music]
REALLY F#%*ING POWERFUL!
A tip I would personally add: make sure your players know that any homebrew content is subject to balance changes as they use it. Sometimes no matter how much you balance beforehand, over/under-powered designs slip through and need to be adjusted to benefit the whole group.
The quality of this Gm Tips seems very much improved, the first thing that struck me was the lighting and color. Everything seems a tad bit grey and really makes everything match especially with the cool background. LOVE IT! Please make more!
For more DM advice from Matt, including homebrew information and rules he has customized for Critical Role, check out the subreddit wiki page on the subject! (you can always find this link in the sidebar).
https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/wiki/faq/matthewmercer
(That wiki page contains a link to the full YT playlist of all videos in the GM Tips series as well.)
For those newer to D&D wondering where Melf and Bigby come from.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigby_(Greyhawk)
About time they came out, I'm always dying for content
Aw, yis!! I missed these.
The content's solid, but my favorite part is that you can tell this took several cuts and re-shoots because not all the scenes line up properly, as every time a re-shoot occurred the hourglass got turned over so it could continue flowing. Gives a bit of insight into how much time it took to make and that it's not done all in one go.
Production quality is way up, but the brass dragon mini and chest were vibrating every time he nudged the table (and it's REALLY distracting to me). Content as great as always.