Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dougch 10-25-07, 03:17 PM	so i just started the logn ardous journey to being a new dm. ill be running the program every thrusaday at my house,. i am in need of soem good help on how to run the campaign with the guys im trying to make it a huge glorious campign, something to make the games truly enjoyable my biggest irk is the unknowledge of how to go about making it stick
Shiftkitty 10-25-07, 03:56 PM	As a new DM don't bite off more than you can chew. It's tempting to try to make a Lord of the Rings for the 21st century, but you can get in over your head. Assuming you and your circle are newbies, start small. If you're planning on playing canon, buy a low level module and run it as a one-shot. It may give you more ideas, or you may another one that will tie in nicely. If you're feeling like a maverick and writing your own canon, again start small. A village with monsters in the wilds that are getting bolder than the locals would like. Simple hack-n-slash with treasure, minor roleplaying with the locals as they ask the party for help. These sessions often develop into something that grows along with your abilities as a DM. The WOTC website has a series of articles (probably in the archives right now) called "Writing Your First Adventure". They offer alot of mechanical insight into how to structure things, how many encounters of what level, how much treasure, etc. But the number one thing to keep is consistency. The DMG has two entire chapters dedicated to how to keep your game alive and feeling real. One deals with adventures themselves while others deal with campaigns. Are you planning on making your own world, or using a published one?
Passivearmada 10-25-07, 04:07 PM	Never trust the rogue. :hides: :shifty: :crazy: :twitch: :hides:
Dougch 10-25-07, 06:49 PM	As a new DM don't bite off more than you can chew. It's tempting to try to make a Lord of the Rings for the 21st century, but you can get in over your head. Assuming you and your circle are newbies, start small. If you're planning on playing canon, buy a low level module and run it as a one-shot. It may give you more ideas, or you may another one that will tie in nicely. If you're feeling like a maverick and writing your own canon, again start small. A village with monsters in the wilds that are getting bolder than the locals would like. Simple hack-n-slash with treasure, minor roleplaying with the locals as they ask the party for help. These sessions often develop into something that grows along with your abilities as a DM. The WOTC website has a series of articles (probably in the archives right now) called "Writing Your First Adventure". They offer alot of mechanical insight into how to structure things, how many encounters of what level, how much treasure, etc. But the number one thing to keep is consistency. The DMG has two entire chapters dedicated to how to keep your game alive and feeling real. One deals with adventures themselves while others deal with campaigns. Are you planning on making your own world, or using a published one? well its just a gradul build up to something huge, thats all, there a lot of work i have to do so ill try my best
jasmith 10-26-07, 12:35 AM	so i just started the logn ardous journey to being a new dm. ill be running the program every thrusaday at my house,. i am in need of soem good help on how to run the campaign with the guys im trying to make it a huge glorious campign, something to make the games truly enjoyable my biggest irk is the unknowledge of how to go about making it stick Here's a few tips. Role-Playing. Bring your NPC's to life and your campaign will follow. Don't be afraid to ham it up a little. When you're building your NPC's, one often heard bit of advise is to pick a few descriptive phrases to help flesh out their personality. Like Smug, fidgety, etc. An even better idea which I use, is to pick a memorable character from a movie or tv show and use it as a personality template. Creating an NPC who's a young, cocky warrior? :plotting: How about Seann William Scott's character from Bulletproof Monk? I use my memory of the character and his mannerisms as a base, then expand as necessary. All you need is the idea and your own imagination will help you flesh it out and transform it into something memorable. Don't limit it to action flicks. If you're into soaps they have a ton of villains that could do the trick, especially nasty sorceress types. :schemes: Give them mannerisms and habits. If their more than just red shirts or local color, give them dreams and plans. What is it about characters in novels and movies that really comes to mind when you think of them? Don't get too stereotypical with it, though. I recently used the main character from Shawn of the Dead as the personality template for an NPC villain. :rofl: Another example from my campaign, is a pair of NPC's I expect the party to meet this Sunday. Tazma and Tranma are twin Drow Elves who are the proprietor's of Boss Yohan's Arms and Armor. In addition to being smiths, Tazma is a 12th lvl Wizard. Tranma is a 7th lvl Fighter and a skilled forger. Their personalities and mannerisms are very similar; think Christopher Guest from the Princess Bride, except aligned CN and a little spacier. They both say exactly what they are thinking and ask each other questions a lot when they are talking to others "...Is that a dwarf Tazma?" "I don't think so Tranma, his shoulders are too narrow." "Are you a dwarf? We don't like dwarves, isn't that right Tranma?" The emotional inflection in their speach is very slight. They have little experience with the surface (Drow are almost unheard of on the surface of my campaign world and most people don't know enough to be afraid of them.) They have a difficult time detecting the difference between gnomes, halflings and dwarves if all they have to go on is sight. Be sure to do some work on the npc's at the characters base of operations. Bring the place to life. Always remember that NPC's are living their lives while the PC's are off traipsing about the dungeon. In other words, make the world dynamic, not static. If the player's have a favorite tavern, detail some of the regulars. Add some character to the place, like the stuffed head of a fiendish dire ape that the owner killed way back in his adventuring days. Have the owner love telling and retelling the tale. Maybe the tavern has a secret, like drug-smugglers are using it to hide their wares. Maybe the tavern owner wants out from under this arrangement? Be descriptive. Write out some short but image laden scene description for your adventure. As you get the hang of it, you'll be able to easily do this on the fly. Make combat memorable. A fight scene in a tavern is fun. A fight scene in a tavern while a hurricane is pounding the city and pieces of the roof are being ripped away is something your players will always remember. :gah: Don't get caught up in an adversarial relationship with your players. It's your role to challenge and entertain them; don't make killing PC's the Raison d'etre of combat. Of course, that doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy your role as adversary. :devil: Just remember you're also the kindly bureaucrat who takes a liking to the party and greases a few wheels for them. And everything and everyone else in the whole campain world. Give the players options. No party likes feeling railroaded. Give them a reason to care, and they will go in the direction you wish. Just be prepared for surprises. Let me repeat that, they will surprise you, so you'll need to learn to wing it. Your players will give you plenty of ideas during the course of play. Google Jamis Buck's NPC generator and download. It's limited, but useful for quickly generating low level and simple NPC's. If you want, I've got a link to a much, much better NPC generator, but it costs $15 bucks and with 4e about to come out you may or may not want to make the investment. NPC creation gets incredibly time consuming, esp. at higher levels. Templates, prestige classes, etc. Anyway, use JB's generator to quickly create some standby and emergency npc's. Cannon fodder type stuff. It'll give you a bank of opponents to call upon when the PC's stray beyond what you've prepared. Also, when you need 30 1st lvl fighters to use as cannon fodder, you can use the stat lists over again. Create a few more individual npc's as well. Keep all these notes and npc's as you can reuse some, especially in later campaigns. Consider using a computer while DMing. Especially if you have a laptop. There's several Campaign manager programs, most of them cost around $40. There is, however one that is absolutely free and which I prefer to the commercial programs I've seen. DM Secretary. :clap: Check it out. Can be useful even if it isn't used during play. Another useful program for in play use is the Waterdeep Event Generator, which can be used for any fantasy city. Quickly generates street scenes, and pocket contents. Another useful program is Innmage - Tavern/Inn name, prices, number of tables and who is sitting at them, Bar scenes, etc. (I know I'm throwing the kitchen sink at you, so just use what you need.) There are a few free programs you can use for creating maps. For wilderness/country maps, I use AKS Hexmapper. :dancin: Easy and neat tile based program. The hexes that come with the program are kind of primitive, but there are a couple of tile collections you can find and download. One of them in particular is pretty nice, and I'll find the link for it if you would like. You could use this one for a world map, but unless you are particularly enamored with hex maps, I would suggest other alternatives. Still in the free area, the only specifically game oriented mapping program I know of is Autorealm. I don't recommend this option, as I think the maps look cheesy. If you want to shell out the bucks for a commercial program, Campaign Cartographer 2 is popular. Expensive, and from what I hear there's a steep learning curve. After doing some research, I decided to use a graphics editor for my own homebrew. If you're willing to spend some time learning the software, you can create magic. There are some tutorials on the web geared toward creating a fantasy world-map using G. Editors (layers dude, use layers.) Also, The Cartographer's Guild, a forum for RPG enthusiasts heavily into mapmaking. If you want to go this route and don't already have GE software, download THE GIMP. A free, open-source Photo and Graphics editor. (When you google this, also google THE GIMP compiled, as if you dl from the homepage, you have to compile it yourself. Find it compiled on another site, but there are also files on the homepage you need.) The GIMP is awesome, and is what I use for many of my maps. Also, you might try INKSCAPE, a free Vector Graphics Editor. I had never used one of these programs, and am no great artist. I dove right in, and learned by doing. When I finished my map it was serviceable, but by the time I finished I had learned enough about how to use the program well enough to make a really nice second draft.:D Now, fantasy cartography has become a serious hobby of mine. :cloud9: If you love fantasy maps I would check out this option, whether instead of or in addition to Campaign Cartographer. Another commercial mapping program is Fractal Mapper. There are a ton of Dungeon generators, but I never use them as the dungeons end up way too random.
Shiftkitty 10-26-07, 11:26 AM	Oh, yes, the NPCs can really make a world! My players got used to this one old guy who was always, and I mean ALWAYS, at their favorite watering hole, sitting in the corner having his drink. They actually got to watch the guy get older as the game progressed. He was a good source for minor information ("Yeah, I fought a hydra once. You gotta get all the heads at once or they'll regenerate."), and they got so used to his being there having his drink. They never knew exactly who he was or what he did for a living. They surmised he must be a retired adventurer, but when asked he swore he "never had no time for such nonsense". He always said he just did whatever needed doing. They got so used to the guy being there that one day they went in and he wasn't there. The party took on a distressed mood. Where was he? Rather than ask the bartender, they went over to the guy's usual table and started conducting an investigation and setting up to cast some divinations, much to the amusement of the other patrons... and to the curious look from the old guy as he emerged from the restroom.