Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The_Pseudo_DM 03-31-05, 10:10 AM	I am actually planning an adventure today and i was wondering if i was missing anything. Heres what ive planned so far: The city they are in Hooks Getting to that place (e.g a mountain) putting in the monsters decideing thier tactics leader of them all i feel im missing something here! getting back reward next hook Anything wrong with that or am i missing something. Also how do you plan your adventures? :confused:
Tifus Artwin 03-31-05, 10:20 AM	Do you have the background info for the areas they are going to be in? Maybe a few plants for some side quest as well? Have all of your important NPC's or other major (or minor) characters? How about all the treasure and such that might or might not be found? Maps? A good Logical Reason behind everything? Do you do Flow Charts? How about the reactions of the monsters that you have in place, what will they do when thier home is invaded? Round by Round actions for the important combatants, such as the BBEG, and MBEG? Spells picked out for those that cast spells? Wow, theres alot to check up on, why did i agree to be DM again????
The_Pseudo_DM 03-31-05, 10:33 AM	well im working on a flow chart got maps treasure i better do lol i might put a side quest in but this is only 1st level stuff. ill just put a lot of detail in how do everyone esle plan?
Gothic_Demon 03-31-05, 10:40 AM	The simple answer is yes, there is something you haven't planned for. There always is. As long as you have a strong framework and a good grasp of what happens in the adventure, you'll be OK.
Lord Santheocles 03-31-05, 11:00 AM	I just make up a map, have a list of what encounters happen where, and the general attitude of any other creatures/NPCs around. Apart from having the very basics, I let the PC's make up the adventure as it go's along. Theres always something you havent planned for? Fine, I'll ad-lib nigh everything, that'll work :D I'm a very brave DM, but apparantly, my RP heavy stuff runs quite well, need to work on combat though... Like above posters have said, get a good framework going, that'll set up the rest of it for you, and nothing unexpected will throw you off too much.
Bane 03-31-05, 11:35 AM	Don't forget a long list of random names, PCs will always ask.
The_Pseudo_DM 03-31-05, 12:11 PM	i usually DM like this. I have a idea and expand on it in the game. i do this cause i base my adventures on what the PCs do. No planning what so ever.
Zeful 03-31-05, 12:27 PM	im like this to no planning i just wing it so i cant help much but an important thing to do is to plan for contingicies just in cas you're pc's do something stupid like kill the town mayor, buying stuff with illusinary gold etc. hope it helps :D i'm new at this so please don't yell :(
cambric 03-31-05, 12:41 PM	Normally, I have 3-4 "leads" for the party to choose from...I really don't believe in rail-roading and feel that if they don't want to do a certain thing, it's my responsiblity to adjust. Currently, I do have one major BBEG and he has several henchmen helping him...the party killed one of the henchmen last session and did something that I didn't think was possible: Killed the NEXT henchman!! Good for them! Bad for me!! LOL. ((One of those unbelievable situations that happens: they rolled 19's and 20's and I rolled ones!...kudo's to them, I even had 2 of their teammates "held"...one other in single digits, and the one that I 'thought' would run, stood her ground and unloaded everything she had...)) So, now they have returned to town, that's where we left off...I've got 3 "rumors" for them to check out OR they can move on...sometimes I do a TON more work than needed, but at least I feel good that they made their choices and I'm not leading them by their noses! ((besides, I can always move some of my ideas around and use later...:evillaugh:)) Cam
Lxarth 03-31-05, 01:12 PM	To start, I'm not trying to troll. I can't stand a DM who doesn't plan. I have played under 2 (that I can think of) DM's who didn't plan. Needless to say, it wasn't very fun. I convinced one DM to plan out the dungeon once and it was awesome. I can tell when the DM doesn't plan, and if he doesn't care enough about the game to at least put something on paper, why should I? I guess that means I can come to game without a character sheet and just "wing it"? Again, I'm not trying to troll. I find the games I play in that are planed out (at least SOMETHING on paper) flows alot better. As has been said, a list of names (about 20) is nice to have. So you don't have to call ever guy Bob. I have a Cpt. Eberk, a necromancer named Azazel (even thought the PC's killed him before they learned his name) and many others. Names are good for realism. I have even tested my players later with questions about "who is the captain of the gaurd"? And things like this. Names make things just more realistic in my opinion. At least a flow-chart for the dungeon would be nice, it helps make exploreing alot easier. If the game is still new all the little rumors you put in make your world. They develop the woods, the wilderness and the area around your starting point. Anywho, hope I helped...I'm not trolling.
Talanall 03-31-05, 02:15 PM	There are a few things you can do which will always prove helpful, no matter how well or badly you have planned what's going to happen. 1) Extra NPCs. Anytime I sit down to plan a game and find that I have time to spare from working out a plot for the next adventure I build an extra NPC--usually just a stat block. Somewhere on my hard drive, I have an NPC human fighter that I've statted from level 1 to level 20, with gear, feats, and all. The same goes for my halfling rogue, and so on. If something happens unexpectedly and I need a rogue or a fighter, I'm covered. I pop open my NPC file, drag out my NPC, and use it. 2) Extra plot hooks that do NOT lead to the plot you really want to run with. Sometimes, the PCs figure out what's gonna happen if they take the hooks you dangle, and then you have to be ready to give them something else. For example, I tend to set my games in urban areas of my campaign world. So one of my stand-by plot hooks is for a con artist/gold digger type to hit on the PCs, and then steal something from one of them after getting close to 'em. 3) Have lists of traps which you can apply to a given situation as it comes up. I don't use this, myself, but a DM I play with has a file consisting of little else but ready-made traps: for doors, for corridors, for stairways, for desk drawers, and for every blasted thing else. 4) Have other lists of things that you can use to challenge the players, written down where you can get to them and use the at a moment's notice. It makes improvisation a lot easier.
UltimateReality 03-31-05, 04:58 PM	I can't stand a DM who doesn't plan. I have played under 2 (that I can think of) DM's who didn't plan. Needless to say, it wasn't very fun.I think there's a fine line between those who "wing it" and those who simply don't prepare. Perhaps a better term for "winging it" would be "those DMs who create easily adjustable campaigns and are quick to adapt to their players". Those DMs are awesome to play under. I sympathise about those who simply don't prepare, though. At least a flow-chart for the dungeon would be nice, it helps make exploreing alot easier.Flowcharts are practically a necessity. Because adjustable campaigns tend to be fairly modular, rather than linear, you need a way to represent all the relationships between organizations, people, and events. Flowcharts really help me visualize that, plus they're fun to make. (Something about colouring and using magic markers, I dunno. ;) ) If the game is still new all the little rumors you put in make your world. They develop the woods, the wilderness and the area around your starting point.This is where lots of DMs -- myself included -- fall down. We forget those little details, or aren't practised at making them up on the fly. In this case you might want to have a random table, or spend some time beforehand thinking about it. I certainly wouldn't dump the players into a campaign without at least a rough political and geographical map of the continent on paper, with major leaders and NPCs detailed out. You don't even necessarily have to stat them at this point. Just figure out their class, race, how they fit, and their approximate power level. Build them when it looks like the party is heading that way... And don't be afraid to transplant stuff. (I mentioned this in another thread earlier.) If they spend a day searching for the hidden door to the other half of the dungeon, which will solve the adventure, in the wrong room, just move the door to that room. Saves a lot of time and frustration on the players' part, and you didn't spend hours of work on nothing. Whenever players bypass an encounter or adventure hook, you can usually drop it in again later. Quick edit: I noticed someone else mentioned dropping in side-quest hooks or mini-adventures. These are an awesome idea! You can grab little one-session adventures or hour long encounters from lots of places. There are some downloads on the site, of course, and the Master DM Competition #11 had some nice encounters I liked.
Lxarth 03-31-05, 05:21 PM	there's a fine line between those who "wing it" and those who simply don't prepare. True. Okay, so I can remember 1 DM who would "wing it" while another would simple not prepare. He would always say he has so much planned, but its all in his head, he hasn't written it down yet. Yea...right. This is from the same player who (after I told him that if the players wrote a background would get extra "stuff") started to tell me his characters backgrouns, ad-lib. I told him to write it down and he was basically like "forget it". I could care less if you don't want to plan as a Player, but don't expect me to develop adventures around your character who steped out of the mist and was simply born. But same goes for a DM, if you don't want to plan and make the game fun for us, why am I going to care about my character enough to plan him out (or even roleplay for that matter). But like UltimateReality was saying, you don't have to detail everything out to the 'enth degree. As long as you have a good idea of what is what you should be ok, and need only detail things as they becore nessicary.
UltimateReality 03-31-05, 05:32 PM	He would always say he has so much planned, but its all in his head, he hasn't written it down yet. Yea...right. This is from the same player who (after I told him that if the players wrote a background would get extra "stuff") started to tell me his characters backgrouns, ad-lib. I told him to write it down and he was basically like "forget it".Hm, sounds like someone had an aversion to writing. (Hey, I've seen players who have an aversion to reading the bloody PHB.) You'd think people like this would quickly realize they'll have to adjust but nooo...some people are stubborn. Eventually they either figure it out or stop playing. I've seen all sorts of backstories, ranging from 7-page first person narratives with character descriptions, to five lines of point-form jot notes. I figure that as long as they have the basic, on paper, and it's legible, I don't care. That's also one of the reasions why I like flowcharts: nice and visual, for those who don't like "all that writing stuff". I just find that if I manipulate the information graphically in terms of inter-relationships, it's a lot easier to plan, and figure out what happens when the PCs veer so far into left field they're out of the playing area altogether. I could care less if you don't want to plan as a Player, but don't expect me to develop adventures around your character who steped out of the mist and was simply born.Yep. That's what my current DM (starting a new campaign this Saturday :w00t: ) said. "I won't require backstories, but those who have them will get plot hooks and bonus xp. Those who don't have them will essentially be tag-alongs." I gave him possibly the shortest backstory I've ever written (1/2 page history, 1/2 page personality and appearance), but I think it's more than adequate to establish the setting for her. (And on a completely unrelated note, I bought a fig for her today. First time I've ever shelled out cash for a fig. SHINY!!! :D )