Mistakes Starting a D&D YouTube Channel

This post is a little different from my usual content—it’s not about rolling dice or building worlds. It’s about something I think is just as important: the mistakes I’ve made building my YouTube channel.

I’m not here to give you a step-by-step guide to starting a channel. Instead, I want to share what I’ve learned from my own missteps—so maybe you don’t have to make the same ones.

Technical Mistakes
I started out with the advice everyone gives: “Use the camera you have.” It’s good advice… but it has its limits. My iPhone shoots in 4K, which looked great—until I tried editing it on my old iMac. Suddenly, what should have been a simple video turned into hours of waiting for exports and wrestling with software. Dropping down to 1080p felt like a step back, but it was the only way to make things workable—and sustainable.

Audio was another surprise challenge. I’ve done narration work before, but live streams with remote guests were a whole different beast. Levels were inconsistent, syncing was a headache, and my normal audio skills didn’t cover all the new wrinkles of live streaming. My setup kept changing, too—new software, new gear, new green screen. Each tweak meant rethinking how I did everything.

The biggest lesson? Workflow matters. If editing takes forever, you’re less likely to keep up with it. It’s easy to obsess over camera angles and lighting, but none of that matters if you’re too burned out to hit publish.

Episode Planning Mistakes
Early on, I decided to post one video a week, plus livestream D&D games and add “Behind the Screens” videos. That’s a lot—especially when you have a day job. I’ve managed to keep it going, but it’s been tough. Each livestream is two-plus hours, not counting the prep and post-production work.

Would I recommend biting off that much at once? Probably not. But I also believe in what I’m trying to do: show what running a game looks like when you don’t have a full production team. Share the real process, warts and all. I’d rather have that honesty than polish for the sake of it.

The Takeaway
What did I learn from all this? That some mistakes you just have to make. Sure, you can avoid the worst of them by listening to advice—but others you’ll only figure out by trying, failing, and adjusting.

And that’s okay.

Because every video I’ve made—good, bad, or just okay—has taught me something. And every one has helped me refine my goals for the channel: sharing my love of D&D, showing how to prep and run a game, and hopefully making it a little easier for new DMs to get started.

If you’re curious to see how these lessons play out, just scroll back through my older videos. You’ll see the evolution in real time.

And if you have questions about how I do things—ask! I’m always happy to share what I’ve learned, even if it’s not perfect yet.

Cheers,
Brian

Posted in YouTube