I counted four secret levels of D&D prep

most DMs miss that all go deeper than

the common advice you can find

everywhere. And the cool thing is they

also gradually add depth to your

campaign while making prep more fun. So

today I'm going to show you what they

are and to make sure it sticks we'll

take a very generic session idea and

make it amazing by going through these

four levels. But the first step we

absolutely need is we need something to

build on.

Okay, so I think the party is going to

enter an old forest and they're going to

be looking for a scout. Okay, but isn't

this missing something? You're right

internal monologue. Um I think the scout

has been missing for 3 days. This is a

situation and not an outcome. Which is

what you should be doing. Yes, but it's

pretty thin. Sure, but this is basic on

purpose. We've all been in old forests

more times than we can remember. Meaning

the things we'll add from now on will

stand out more. And the whole point of

this method is we're basically going to

be playing a game with our own prep.

Each level gives us a new toy we'll get

to build and add to the session making

us more excited and the future session

more immersive. Because here's the

problem. Our first level with folks. I

think a lot of us tend to run our

sessions at a single emotional

temperature. So to speak. Like dungeons

are all tense for 3 hours and then it's

mysterious exploration for the next

session before we move on to the secrecy

heavy social encounters etc. etc. The

camp feels silent. Mysterious.

Almost like almost like the forest it's

in?

>> Dude, yeah. Come on, dude.

Di- didn't you mean like the road that

led us to it? At the scene level this is

not a problem. But if the entire session

stays at the same temperature everything

starts to blur together and it leads

that uncomfortable forgettable session

feel we all know and

don't love. It sucks. We hate it. Why

are you looking at me? I hate it, too.

Even the internal monologue guy does.

And that was true.

But thankfully, there's a solution. This

happens because when we spend a lot of

time thinking about what we're putting

in there, we forget to think about the

shape of the session, aka rhythm. The

good news is the fix is simple. We need

dynamics and contrast. And to do this, I

like to use something I'm a bit obsessed

with that I call tension pairs, like

quiet versus loud, funny versus sad,

slow versus fast, epic versus

introspective, etc. Using pairs of

opposite concepts helps create more

immersive sessions because one, it

allows you to make sure you are thinking

about variety and naturally creating

that rhythm. And two, more importantly,

it's a good way to include the players'

emotions and the effect you want your

prep to have in your prep, which makes

it way easier to then create that

feeling at the table. The trick is to

then work on the shift from one to the

other. Two changes per session is enough

and it will immediately give it shape

because we're whole human and contrast

helps us feel just like when the chorus

hits in a great song. So, let's go back

to this old forest.

>> Yes, I think he needs help. Right now,

it has that single unmistakable old

forest emotional temperature, the

vanilla mystery one.

>> God, I wish it was vanilla. I love

vanilla. So, let's sprinkle in some

tension pairs. I think I want to work

with quiet and tense. As you progress in

the forest, you can't help but notice

how silent everything is. Let me guess,

you, as a ranger, you notice that birds

should be singing,

but they aren't. Oh. But then, they hear

something. Like maybe a branch snaps

somewhere they can't see, or they hear a

sound that doesn't belong in the forest

at all. As a ranger,

do I know what that sound was?

>> Let's see. Make her survival check,

please.

You can then have some kind of random

encounter planned or maybe an

environmental puzzle. You pick.

So, yes, that was just the sound of a

very cool YouTuber asking you to help

him out by making sure you're subscribed

to his channel because 80% of regular

viewers aren't.

Do we get more experience points if we

do?

>> Mhm. And a rare magic item of your

choice as well. The point is Thinking in

terms of pairs both helps us map out the

structure of the session and think more

about the emotional journey of the

players. Okay, but how do I make this

tonal shift impossible to miss because

my players here are so busy being

players and just keep looking at the

players handbook. You know, they just

can't seem to remember their spell

descriptions. Hey. Dude. Yeah. We

do do that, don't we?

I'm sorry.

Keep going. Well, we need our second

secret level to grab their attention. If

you're just using words, there's a limit

to how captivating you can become and

you're asking the players imagination to

fill in the blanks. It's like one of

those weird French films with just

dialogue and no music. Directors

understood a long time ago that they

could use it to help the audience

experience their story more intensely.

>> Wait.

I use music.

What? It It's right there. Look. Well,

the thing is I think most DMs use music

like some kind of audio wallpaper. They

go to YouTube or Spotify, type fancy

ambient chill or fantasy combat music,

and then forget about it for 3 hours.

All right. Yes, maybe that last stand

epic combat music that makes you feel

like a warrior wasn't the right pick for

the tavern role play bits.

Happy? I mean, we've all done it, but

the real problem, even if you don't have

such terrible tone mismatches, is that

it treats music as decoration and not as

a layer that's adding something to the

session, which is a shame because music

can create deep emotions in just a few

seconds. Please tell him how to fix

this. I think the best way is to use the

music as an accelerator of the contrast

pair idea we saw in the first level and

you change tracks when that change

happens. That way both techniques

reinforce each other. It makes it easier

to land that vibe shift and to not

forget to change the track because now

it plays a functional role in the

session and contributes to its shape.

So, for our forest, for the quiet bits,

we could have low ambient sounds, maybe

a subtle wind sound effect or distant

water. And then, when you have that

snapping branch thing, well, first you

can play that, but you can introduce

some music, too. Many things can work

and will have different results

depending on what you plant. A dark

music can announce a fight against

undead, for example, or a more ambient

one, some kind of puzzle. Pick what you

like, but the bit is you're helping to

shape the session further. If you're

working with three tension pairs, that's

six soundtracks to prepare. But the cool

thing is, because you're working with

general emotions, you can spend a bit of

time to craft a few soundtracks and then

reuse them across several sessions. Come

on. I'm not that lazy.

It's okay, dude.

I won't judge.

>> Well, thank god you won't judge. You're

a player. I know you're not really lazy,

but we don't like burnouts. So, maybe

make a custom one only for the really

important scenes or when you feel

inspired and want it deeper. We're not

scoring a film here, but using our

second secret level to boost the effects

of the first one. Isn't there an easy

way to do this? Having a dozen browser

tabs open doesn't feel all that

practical. Well, actually, if you don't

know where to find high-quality music

and sound effects, I need to tell you

about the sponsor of today's video. The

guys at Amzole Suite are launching two

new tools on BackerKit, Harp and Scry.

And Harp is a tool that allows you to do

just that. It is built to help you

manage your soundscape during your

session with very clever features to

help you highlight those emotional

shifts and a randomness engine that

keeps things from feeling repetitive.

They're working with human composers and

studios who worked on Black Mirror or

more recently Gloomhaven: Jaws of the

Lion to create unforgettable

sound layers for your games. In

addition, Scry is a tool that helps

players and DMs interact with one

another during and between sessions and

allows them to share secrets, journal,

use mind maps, and even fight the final

boss of any tabletop role-playing game,

aka scheduling. Both these tools will be

compatible with their existing products,

Lore and Tone, which help with

world-building and the note-taking side

of prep. And I really love them. The

BackerKit campaign starts today on the

5th of May 2026 and they're very cool

people, so just check out the link in

the description. And speaking about

communication at the table, this takes

us to our third secret level of D&D

prep. Tell me if this sounds familiar.

As you arrive in the clearing, you see

half-burnt logs in the center of a small

stone circle. Oh.

Maybe the scout slept here before. Sure.

All right. Um I look around and check

for anything out of the ordinary. Sure.

What about you? Um

I um

look around and try to find anything out

of the ordinary. All right. Please make

an investigation check.

Ooh. Yes. Nice.

>> Okay, so looking around, you find an old

journal and a strangely familiar piece

of cloth. Oh.

>> This dark, thick wool. The scout's

cloak.

We're on the right track. I mean,

there's absolutely nothing wrong with

that. But, this is a take things to the

next level type of video. So, how do we

do that? Because when every player knows

the same things, you avoid party splits,

which is nice, but the group kind of

starts moving forward as the single

block. And players end up not talking as

much, which means less opportunities for

role play and character development.

>> Yeah, dude. We should role play more.

Sure, but uh

I'm a lone wolf kind of guy.

Ranger. Remember?

If the next step can fix him,

I think I'm even going to support this

dude on Patreon. Well, our third secret

level won't magically turn antisocial

players into team players, but it will

allow us to engineer more emergent role

play moments by making the information

flow asymmetric on purpose. So, secrets?

Yes, kind of, but with a specific shape.

I think secrets and clues work better

when you treat them as puzzles. You

prepare several small pieces, you make

sure there are several ways for players

to find them, and you give them to

different players. This helps the role

play to happen naturally because if they

want the complete clue or secrets, they

need to interact and share information.

So, they will theorize, take different

sides, etc.

Nice. Okay, so you find this hidden in a

tree stump nearby. Oh.

Cool. I'm sure that's a sub par clue.

What even is that? Sorry, that's

Ranger slang. And you find this in the

grass just outside the clearing. What I

love about this is that the conversation

the players will have can lead to

theories you didn't prepare for and make

the game more exciting for everyone. In

our example, maybe the DM initially

thought the scout fled in a hurry and

forgot some of their things and the

clues were just a way to point the

players in the right direction. So,

did you get a premium clue?

How do you know ranger slang?

>> What, guys?

What'd you do? Sorry. Um

I approached the wizard.

>> I'm a sorcerer. I say I found this

dagger

wrapped in cloth.

It belongs to the scout. I'm sure. And I

found this. It's a journal entry. It

says they were afraid of something, but

I could tell. Sounds like a diversion.

He would never part with his dagger. I

first thought he was on the run given

the journal, but I agree with you,

ranger. He will come back.

This is a setup. He's smarter than this.

If we want to find him, we need to stay

here.

>> All right.

Sure.

>> Uh just my my character name is

>> We've been over this. I'm not calling a

fantasy ranger Steve. Thank you.

Different clues can either tell

different stories or different sides of

the same one. And the beauty of this

approach is that it's the player

interaction that decides. Players can

still role-play and come up with

theories when the secrets and clues come

as complete blocks. Yes, but this puzzle

approach greatly increases the chances

of a cool interaction because not seeing

the complete thing at once gives each

individual player a chance to come up

with a different theory when they only

have access to a partial information.

And the DM just gets to sit back and

watch paying attention to what is being

said while the game runs itself for 20

minutes. And this tells them where to

take things next. All right. So, that

night, as you're waiting patiently,

you hear footsteps approaching quietly.

You avoid railroading, get ammunition

for what comes next, and get to be

considered a genius when their theory

was either correct. It's the scout.

>> Wow, I can't believe we got this right

or almost correct with four-armed

bandits.

>> This is even better. So, for your next

session, just identify one or two key

situations where it would make sense to

have different secrets or clues. Write

them on little cards and give them to

the players when they ask for that

check. You don't write a mystery novel,

but you help create the conditions for a

conversation. This is cool. Now, the

session will have an emotional shape, a

cool soundtrack, and an engine that

creates cool role-play and twists on

autopilot.

But what about me? Right, the DM is a

player, too. So, I think it's very

important that we try our best to make

the game more immersive for the DM as

well. And prep can help us do just that

with our fourth secret level, texture.

The goal of this step is to get you in

the mood and excited to run the session.

And the way I love to do it is to try to

pick a few power words or expressions to

help me communicate the images I have

prepared. I

Isn't that risky, though? The players

might think I'm trying to tell the story

at them. Well, no, I don't think so.

Because DMs spend a lot of time tracking

logistical details and preparing

mechanical elements that need to make

sense and create a fun experience for

everyone at the table. And it can

sometimes drain the fun out of the game

or lead to the dreaded DM burnout thing.

So, when you spend 5 minutes to write

something you are excited about The

stone feels cold

like a blue February morning. Or

whatever the equivalent you version of

this is, you're not just preparing a

detail or writing a book, but you're

getting excited and stepping into the

world before the players do. You're

creating the conditions to become the

world for your players, which makes it

way easier to do all the other stuff you

must do as the DM. Describing things,

reacting to the players, and even voices

if you're into those all become easier.

And that is because the texture level is

is your warm-up, and it makes prep feel

like a game already instead of homework.

You become a player of your own game for

5 minutes, and it changes how you show

up at the table. So, maybe in our old

forest, there is mist.

Like a thick fog that clings to the

ranger's armor

like a wedding veil and a cathedral

silence

that commands humility. That's

beautiful. It's wordy.

Is what it is. Look, I'm sorry if you

don't like those. I'm French. They make

us learn Victor Hugo in school. I don't

pay attention. The point is, find a

version you like. It doesn't have to be

this flowery. It needs to make you

excited to share it with the players

because that's when you'll be the best.

I suggest you try to come up with three

or four of those per situation. One

image, one smell, one sound is a good

place to start. They're not scripts you

must use. It's all about anchoring

yourself. When you write them and read

them before the session, they will pull

you into the world, and it simply

becomes easier to meet your players

there. So, we started with a party

entering some cliché old forest looking

for a missing scout, which was okay, but

nothing special. And we kept the core of

this idea, but we've made it better by

thinking about table dynamics, how to

engineer your role play, how to do it by

adopting a show, don't tell approach

with music, and how to run it by making

sure we're excited and playing, too.

These four levels all have something

very important in common. None of them

make you control exactly what happens,

but they allow you to design the

conditions for something memorable to

happen on its own. I think as DMs, we're

very lucky because we just get to build

cool toys, and it's kind of like our

whole private mini-game we can play

without having to go through scheduling

and whenever we want. I'm not saying you

need all four of these levels for every

single situation in every single

session, but maybe try it out. Just pick

one of these and add it to your next

game. My point is, I think you should

try to prep wider instead of longer. But

now, we still have a problem because

everything we talked about today is

about making individual sessions feel

alive, which is cool, but a single great

session can't save a campaign that

doesn't have the right foundations. So,

how do you make sure your campaign idea

is good enough? Well, click on this

video next to learn a systematic

six-step diagnosis process that will

turn any campaign idea into something

amazing.