Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 23 hours ago

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Let’s talk about “The Monsters Know What They’re Doing,” a book designed to help you run the villains from the 2014 Monster Manual!

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CW: Curse of Strahd spoilers (marked so you can avoid them)

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
02:03 - A Word From Our Sponsor
02:53 - The Bad Guys Want to Live
08:51 - The Bad Guys Want Something Specific
12:14 - The Players Want to Experience the Core Fantasy of the Bad Guys
21:57 - We Want Our Bad Guys to Be Cool and Fun
28:53 - How This Approach Can Improve Your Games
36:47 - Keith Ammann’s True Enemy???
41:51 - Outro

Recommended Reading:

Removing Default Alignments from "Monstrous Races": youtube.com/watch?v=nqlv87EufrU

Core Fantasies of Monsters Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF5zBOWphfZAdwSwqcU7HXXqoHg0Bf3TD

Hobgobglins & Low Level Play! | Running the Game: youtube.com/watch?v=FP9ejX8Q1l0

How MCDM's "Flee, Mortals!" Uses Monsters' Core Fantasies to Inspire New Designs: youtube.com/watch?v=V4FJXroY3As

Some Game Mechanics Just Aren’t Fun - Vox Machina, Ep. 21 | Critical Role Demystified: youtube.com/watch?v=G9XXV3Rrqgk

Music from Epidemic Sound

Highlight Reel Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg #rpg #wizardsofthecoast

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