Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Boshi 01-09-06, 09:33 PM	Hey all. I'm DMing for a group of ex-pats in Korea and I just wrapped up my third adventure in the first campaign I've GMed since middle school and things are going fairly well. We're playing in a D&Dized version of the Renaissance and the party has just finished some rather complicated involvement in Venecian politics when war has broken out in Italy. The party has been hired by the Doge to infiltrate Milan and do everything possible by any means necessary to delay the mobilization of the Milanese mercenary armies in order to buy Venice some time. The party's only 5th level (six of them though) and although they're not very high level, I'm sure they're already coming up with some VERY creative ideas for Grand Theft Auto: Milan (as they're calling it) which I'm sure will involve trying to burn the city to the ground or somesuch and doing a lot of things that I won't expect. Since this adventure will be a lot more open-ended that I'm used to I'm not exactly sure how to go about planning for it. Anyone have any kind of advice for how to run this kind of open-ended quasi-military adventure?
Lord Ian Stark 01-09-06, 10:46 PM	As I don't know much about your gameworld I would say just make sure you have a good idea on the areas enforcements and numbers of military personnel. This way if they do go nuts you know exactly what resources are at hand. Try and think of as many possible ways the PC's may do something. I like to use "bait" to get them to go a certain way in the story line myself if I think the party is going to go way outside what I had envisioned. But in the end you may have to just roll with the punches as they may throw a curve ball at you. To me as a DM, this is fun and allows me to have a good time during gaming. I just have to add that I was an MP in the Army stationed at Camp Humphreys from 1999-2000 and taught many soldiers how to play D&D while I was there. It was killing two birds with one stone for me as I knew where my soldiers were and we weren't spending money. Course we always went out other nights drinking to change up the off time. ;) Good times man and keep up the gaming! :D
ECOM 01-09-06, 11:22 PM	For an open style game like you seem to have ended up with. my best recomendations for you are: 1. know what the major npc's in the city well. where they will be. what they would be doing if the pc didn't do anything. if you know your npcs well you can determone what they are likely to do in responce to the players actions. 2. some encounters can be planned before hand. I like to make a little random encounter table and roll on it at veroius points. 3. keep good notes, actions have there consiquences and your notes will help you plan out further adventures. 4. dont be afraid make something up on the spot don't worry about how or why it happends if the players get currious about it you can decide how and why as they investigate. 5. have fun this type of game can be a surprise to both you and your players and go places you may not have expected.
Boshi 01-10-06, 08:37 AM	As I don't know much about your gameworld Real life Renaissance with a light fantasy makeover. Am having a hard time finding an historical Milan streetmap though... This way if they do go nuts you know exactly what resources are at hand. Historical mercenary companies here we come :) know what the major npc's in the city well. About how many should I make? They've met a bunch of Venecians but no Milanese.
celtredleg 01-10-06, 10:51 AM	You dont need to stat the Major NPCs, just know who they are. Be sure to have decent guards on them. Italian politics was rough and they played for keeps. BGs are not for show. Pick a few of the historical merc outfits to work up. There are lots to chose from, and most are ineresting. Decide if you want to let them burn down the city. If you dont, then just keep the oposition high enough to swamp them if they go terminaly stupid.
UmbraLux 01-10-06, 11:03 AM	The above look like good ideas, here are a few more... Create an outline of potential targets and defenses in place. In other words, know where the water supply, food storage, major markets, military staging areas, communications, and command areas are located and how/if each is defended. Does the city have a centralized response force? If so know how long it will take them to get information of an attack and how long till they respond. Create a basic template of statistics for policemen/city guard, any militia wandering the city, and any patriotic citizens which may do something other than run. In an open scenario the PCs will probably surprise you with a target you didn't have ready, the templates will help you build the encounter on the fly.
Roxlimn 01-10-06, 11:18 AM	In all seriousness... Create or steal 3 or 4 complete adventures that you can launch at the drop of a hat. Make sure to cover as many possible player interests as possible, and probably one adventure that can affect the PCs even if they are not proactive. That way, when they decide to go off on a tangent, you can always pull up another unrelated adventure and away you go. It's probably best (if you steal adventures) to modify them so that the 3 or 4 adventures relate to each other in some way. Also, allowing for PC or NPC events to change the landscape and thus adventure specifics is a great way to derive multiple adventures from essentially the same maps and stat blocks.
Quoriil 01-10-06, 12:09 PM	Boshi, here are a couple of Milano maps: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/milano_1913.jpg a little to new perhaps but relatively accurate http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/italy/milan/maps/braun_hogenberg_I_42_b.jpg illustrative style makes reading the streetnames difficult interactive map feature of of this site might make it easier to find the names for the historical streets... http://www.itwg.com/hotel3820 I'll put up more if I stumble across any. :tiphat:
Boshi 01-12-06, 08:27 AM	Thanks for the advice. Ooooh maps! Maps are very good, thanks!