Post/Author/DateTime	Post
MagnusMagnusson 03-09-07, 06:19 PM	I am facing the daunting task of Dm-ing for the first time for a group of experienced players. I feel confident with mechanics but I don't want the story to be so cliche that they lose interest. I am also facing the time constraint of a one shot. He is a brief synopsis of what I have so far. Most of the story is stolen from a very old Dungeon issue that I know the players dont have access to. Here goes...Set in a Scandinavian setting. Extreme cold, mountains. Barbarian tribes. The PCs rescue two kids from a group of attackers, one is a Queen's son. He leads them to her. Her husband, the king is missing. Another tribe knows this and starts attacking. 3 seperate attacks, each bigger than the last. The final, if the PCs are successful, wastes a lot of the Queens people and guards. For fear of being overrun, the group, Queen and remaining citizens, take off in a boat down a river. They must go through a haunted forest. Side trek takes them to an abandoned saw mill with running saw. Other encounters. Once back in boat, they travel to Queen's Uncle in another city, low on law, high on crime. While staying with Uncle, they here that Leader of warring tribe is in town to sell off slaves from raid. If PC's attack, they find that one of slaves is the good, ole king. The only problem, even after beating bad barbarian leader is that the transaction took place already and good King is property of someone else. How the PCs deal with it is up to them. Thats a rough outline. One of the Queens generals is a traitor and flips during third attack. So, Other than creature selection which I have in hand, any great plot twists that you could suggest to throw off a party that has run through almost everything? Please help.....
Octavian_5 03-09-07, 06:51 PM	Put the general in a recurring role, like this: He bulids up his own army, and later attacks, hoping to seize the kingdom. He fails. He gets bigger army. He fails. Makes a deal with Gnommish Inventors. For stuff like guns, he'll give them more land. The PCs must travel and create an alliance of creatures and kingdoms. He fails. Gives up, becomes a Lich/ super-powered thing/ endboss and tries to kill the PCs.
MagnusMagnusson 03-09-07, 07:10 PM	Thats a cool idea, but it will in essence be a one shot, probably 3 sessions only.
Octavian_5 03-09-07, 09:44 PM	Hmmm...I got two words for you, my friend: Zombie Apocalypse. :D
LadyAlaria 03-09-07, 11:44 PM	You don't need any help. Your plot is fine, and you really don't need any further twists. If you are making a movie or writing a book, plot twists are essential. But in those media if the "player" misses the surprise it isn't a problem - the story continues and the "player" eventually catches up. But in D&D the players have fewer cues so they take longer to catch on. Too many surprises becomes frustrating. You already have a couple nice fillips - any more and you risk your players losing the story line. Instead of adding plot twists, spend some time figuring out how to adjust the encounters on the fly. If the first encounter goes badly for the party, plan how you'll adjust the second one to avoid TPK - and also what you'll do if the party walks right over your monsters. The goal is to make sure the party has used up just the right amount of their resources so that final confrontation with the BBEG has maximum dramatic impact. The trick is doing that by subtly manipulating the encounters themselves, rather than by fudging dice rolls. Your storyline is solid, now you should concentrate on the details of executing it.
MagnusMagnusson 03-10-07, 06:51 AM	Thanks for the thoughtful advice. What you say makes a lot of sense. I am off to continue prep...
Octavian_5 03-10-07, 09:33 AM	Or...Zombie Apocalypse. Great way to end it...and set them up for a sequel!