Post/Author/DateTime	Post
uniquenamessuck 06-04-04, 09:37 AM	Autosponge: I've read several of your responses to various threads and I'm quite amazed at the amount of work and organization you put into your campaigns. You seem to be able to run a campaign that truly feels like it’s living and breathing. I have a few questions for you... Are you an incredibly talented at improvising? Can you pull a plot out of thin air and then populate it with new characters and monsters on-the-fly? Or does everything need to be prepared in advance? If the best DMs are the best at improvising, then I fear I may never reach a level greater than “acceptable”. What do you do if the players start searching for something that just isn’t there? Say you threw in a legend of some mystical item for flavor, but never planned anything out for it (or just plain forgot), how do you handle it? Do you stall the players with unplanned challenges until you can take some time between sessions to design a good “dungeon”? Or are you able to create the dungeon instantly? How do you adjust for the party level? If I’m not mistaken, you talk about creating all of your characters in advance, and when you need one, you just pull it out of your database. What if your players decide to investigate a hook whose NPCs and challenges are all geared towards first level characters? Do you constantly update your database to keep in line with the party level? Do you have such in depth knowledge of the rules that you can add class levels or advance creatures without pre-session work? What if the challenge doesn’t make sense anymore? For example, dire rats can only be advanced so far, and even large numbers won't be challenging above a certain level, what if a plot hinged around fighting dire rats or some other similar creature? What if a challenge is too powerful for the PCs current level? How do you determine the DCs of certain skill checks without quite knowing what level the PCs might be when they face these challenges? Also how do you decide which plots are going on at any given time? By your descriptions, you sound like you have a lot that’s going on. There are only so many unique plots i.e. only so many escort missions, only so many armies threatening civilization, only so many dungeons holding sacred artifacts, only so many missing people to be found, etc… Do you simultaniously use the same plot multiple times with different parties and motives, or do you have only one of each kind of plot going on at the same time? How many plots do you have going on at any given time? You sound like you put a lot of work into your campaigns as well. What advice would you give someone who only had a couple of hours a week to prepare for a monthly D&D session? Out of my gaming group, I have the best grasp of the rules, but I don’t think it’s nearly the amount of knowledge that it would take to run a free-form campaign like the ones you run. I’m also not very good at improvising, when I do, it ends up lacking believability because I haven’t had time to think it through.
Hathorym 06-04-04, 10:31 AM	Originally posted by uniquenamessuck Autosponge: Are you an incredibly talented at improvising? Can you pull a plot out of thin air and then populate it with new characters and monsters on-the-fly? Or does everything need to be prepared in advance? If the best DMs are the best at improvising, then I fear I may never reach a level greater than “acceptable”. Improvising is nothing more than practicing a lot and just allowing yourself go. The more you think about improvising, the less you're doing it. You have to let go and trust that you're going to produce for your players the best game you can. Often, by putting yourself in the player's shoes, you can make happen not what the players necessarily WANT, but what the players would see as interesting, which is not always good. How do you adjust for the party level? Maybe it's just experience, but you just know. Also, the books are there as guidelines, not as laws. Play with it... you should be able to determine whether or not a group can handle an encounter just based on your experiences. Obviously, 4 1st level PCs won't be able to handle a Storm Giant on night one, but 6 goblins could be a possibility. You know this, just use your common sense. How do you determine the DCs of certain skill checks without quite knowing what level the PCs might be when they face these challenges? You should always know the level of your characters, you control the experience, you control how quickly they advance. That being said, DCs should advance with your characters, not inspite of them. A tough trap at level 1 is VERY different than a tough trap at level 10. Also how do you decide which plots are going on at any given time? By your descriptions, you sound like you have a lot that’s going on. Look at our world. What plots are going on at this time? Allow plots to occur in spite of your players, not because of them - most of the time. There are only so many unique plots i.e. only so many escort missions, only so many armies threatening civilization, only so many dungeons holding sacred artifacts, only so many missing people to be found, etc… I disagree. There are an infinite number of plots. Sure, there are some common themes, but allow yourself to turn them on edge. For example, you've given your players an escort mission. My questions would be: 1. Who are they escorting? 2. Why does this person need an escort? 3. Who asked you to escort this person? 4. What is the destination of the escort? 5. What is the purpose of the journey? You can take those five questions and come up with multiple plot lines. For example, they are escorting an apothecary to a witch's hovel deep in the forest to procur a rare herb for the creation of a poulstice to heal the king's daughter. - OR - They are escorting a diplomat to the edge of violent teritory to try to negotiate terms of peace. Not wanting the war to end for his own reasons, the Prince who sent you on this escort mission has hired mercenaries to make sure the conversation never takes place. As you can see... just in answering those five questions, you've uncovered MORE plots. How many plots do you have going on at any given time? As many as are necessary to tell a good story. Don't bog yourself down and know what plots are not required to keep your PCs entertained. The power struggles of a barony six hundred miles away really shouldn't be a concern... unless you've decided that baron is going to be the catalyst for a war at some point that will embroil the PCs land. You sound like you put a lot of work into your campaigns as well. What advice would you give someone who only had a couple of hours a week to prepare for a monthly D&D session? Here is how I run my campaigns. 1. I begin with each campaign with a question. Currently, the question of the campaign is What effect would the death of a Major God have on a world? Thus, Praele was born when Arych, the Overgod, went insane and attempted to destroy his own creation. His three daughters had to band together to stop him and end up killing him. Other questions that started campaigns were things like How thin is the line between good and evil? and Is chaos a result of law, or is law a by-product of chaos? or anything equally as jibberishful. 2. Let the campaign go its own course. I am blessed in that I can improvise almost any situation, and make it appear as natural and planned as a DM who spends years on a campaign. I have always been extremely imaginative, and have used it to my advantage. Often, a plot point will spring and though I had just thought of it, I'm already using it to effect other plot points I've had. So, by the end of the first session, the campaign has already come alive, simply by its own volition. 3. Write down everything. Even if it appears to be innocuous at the time, you can use it later. For example, I once had a player who insisted on paying an extraordinary amount for a room, due to excellent service. When they returned to the inn four months later, they found that the innkeeper had made some changes to the inn, increasing quality, and royalty were coming just to spend a night. One of the visiting Barons introduced an entirely new plot line. 4. Quickly skim all of your notes before every game session. This has the effect of reminding you of where you've already been and could possibly spark some ideas while you're running that evening. You never know when a innocuous point from six months ago could possibly have an effect on that night's session. 5. Let the players run the game. When combined with #2, this has the effect of a living and breathing world. Let the players do what they want to do. Your campaign is going to continue to happen. Your villians are going to start their campaigns of evil with or without your PCs. The natural disaster on the coast line is going to occur with or without your characters knowledge. But, while the dungeon they are exploring could lead to the furthering of a plot already in progress. As long as the PCs get the feeling of independancy, you can control their actions at all times. 6. Have fun I can't express this enough. If you're not having fun telling your stories, you can be certain that your players are going to be just as bored. Take a break, allow someone else to run, do anything... but make sure YOU are having fun running your campaign.
uniquenamessuck 06-04-04, 12:49 PM	Maybe it's just experience, but you just know. Also, the books are there as guidelines, not as laws. Play with it... you should be able to determine whether or not a group can handle an encounter just based on your experiences. Obviously, 4 1st level PCs won't be able to handle a Storm Giant on night one, but 6 goblins could be a possibility. You know this, just use your common sense. Autosponge has specified that he has all of his NPCs and plots prepared in advance and recommends this strategy. I was trying to see what his strategy for handling this type of situation was. For example, say a Storm Giant is going to personally capture the prince next week as he (the prince) travels back to the capital city. What if the PCs at 1st level are traveling with the prince when this happens? Since you never know what the PCs are going to do, you can't depend on them to back down from the fight. What if perhaps it was a high CR creature the players have never seen before and would not know to back down from it? Do you let it happen and see what plays out (even if the PCs may die) or do you nerf it at the last second by having the creature use subdual damage or have the creatures minions perform the work instead? If the CE wizard in the tower is level 10 and the PCs are level 5 and they come knocking on his door... If there is a troll living in a cave at the top of a hill and the 1st level PCs stroll on in... The opposite is true as well. Perhaps you've dropped clues over the campaign about a dire rat worshipping cult that the players, randomly, at 14th level decide to investigate. Don't forget that you've prepared the challenges and NPCs involved in advance. Do you just drop the plot completely and tell the players that the investigation turns up that someone else came along and eliminated the cult? I disagree. There are an infinite number of plots. Sure, there are some common themes, but allow yourself to turn them on edge. For example, you've given your players an escort mission. My questions would be: 1. Who are they escorting? 2. Why does this person need an escort? 3. Who asked you to escort this person? 4. What is the destination of the escort? 5. What is the purpose of the journey? You can take those five questions and come up with multiple plot lines. Agree, but when you throw all the escort plots into a pot they all boil down to what amounts to an escort mission. Here I was just trying to get an idea of how varied Autosponge makes his plot themes. Do players get tired of hearing about the pesky goblins in the woods to the north, the raiding orcs from the mountains in the south, and the massing kobold armies from the eastern badlands who all need to be exterminated? Wouldn't want the players to get into a "same crud, different day" attitude. I don't want to play my games out of the monster manual or NPC section of the DMG. I would like to be able to prepare enough in advance so I'm not scrambling when the players jump onto a lead I tossed in for flavor. I would like to have creatures with interesting templates and prestige classes and an appropriate selection of spells that I prepare in advance. At the same time I don't want to spend hours preparing material and only end up using 10% of it.
Autosponge 06-04-04, 06:14 PM	Originally posted by uniquenamessuck Autosponge: I have a few questions for you... Are you an incredibly talented at improvising? No. Which is why I feel like I need to be as prepared as possible for the game, the session, and the environment I'm running (including rules). I rely on my references to pull me through. Having my references on a computer allows me to search on them which helps, but even with card file, the index is king. Can you pull a plot out of thin air and then populate it with new characters and monsters on-the-fly? Usually it's the other way around. If a plot idea comes to mind in the middle of a game, or I need to twist an existing plot to fit, I do so using mostly pre-existing NPCs. Not all of them have complete stats and such, but the more info I have on them, the better. However, I do often use random encounters which can create an NPC party. Just what the party is doing and who they are may be something I use to spice up an existing plot (it's really easy when they all die anyway). Or does everything need to be prepared in advance? If the best DMs are the best at improvising, then I fear I may never reach a level greater than “acceptable”. Not everything is prepared in advance. Like I said, I use random encounters tables (in excel spreadsheet when possible). About 1/3 of those random encounters end up having plot significance or having another hook attached--but that depends on what comes up in the encounter. What do you do if the players start searching for something that just isn’t there? If I mentioned something as an NPC I have a couple options: 1. the NPC was lying and wanted to intentionally throw the PCs off their current course or get them killed. 2. the NPC didn't know any better, he wasn't lying but his information is wrong. 3. the item is stolen, destroyed, etc. 4. Roll the item up and fit the description the NPC gave the best I can. 5. Delay*. Delay is special because there are many ways to delay a party searching for something. 1. Set the DC's higher (which makes them have to build up it through helping eachother or obtaining circumstance bonuses). 2. Find "that guy". Often when a dead end is reached, the PCs can be directed to an expert NPC who has more info, trouble is he may be far away or at an unknown location. 3. Go get "the book". Like "that guy", "the book" has more info but it's often in a well guarded library far away, the keeper of the library may not even be inclined to share. 4. "It costs what!?" Raise the price on something high enough and PCs will either take the time to raise the cash or give up (so use some balance if you don't want them to give up). 5. "I'm not done with it." Someone else has the item in question but will not relinquish it for any price--yet. In due time, return and you can use it (maybe it will be drained of all charges!). Say you threw in a legend of some mystical item for flavor, but never planned anything out for it (or just plain forgot), how do you handle it? The Realms is already filled with items lost to the ages. Destroyed by demons, captured by evil wizards, hoarded by dragons, etc. The best thing to do is mix it up. Use a variety of things to give the campaign that 'real' flavor. Sometimes the PCs get lucky, other times it's a wash. Sometimes it's easy to find, other times it's impossible. But just because they find something doesn't mean it's "available" to them. Do you stall the players with unplanned challenges until you can take some time between sessions to design a good “dungeon”? Or are you able to create the dungeon instantly? In my places folder I link to maps from WotC site, scanned maps from modules and magazines, etc. These maps are my source for "instant" places if I need to make a combat map of something or give detailed descriptions. I'm still working on "generic text" to fill in your basic rooms, but the stronghold guide is also a good source for standard items that fill your basic rooms. Places don't have items people do, or did. So when someone is looking for something, the best place to look is with who had it last or where the last person to have it was last seen. The site of a battle, the home or lair, the sanctuary or library. These are all standard places to keep 'stuff'. My NPCs will trade, borrow, buy, and steal items from each other, so sometimes there is breadcrumb path to follow. For instance, say I mentioned a scepter with some nasty qualities (divine in nature). It stands to reason that this belongs to a cleric of a faith with that weapon as its deity's prefered weapon. Make sure the alignment is appropriate and give it to an NPC that fits. If I don't have someone prepared, I might roll him up randomly. Where would he live? How old is he? He could live in a temple if that particular faith has them. If he's powerful and retired, he may have a fortified keep. There are many possibilities. Is he too weak of a character for the item? If so, maybe a rival stole it or killed him and took it. Maybe he tried to improve it and damaged, cursed or broke it. Just work on following a logical course in your head or on paper and you'll start weaving a plot--whether you realize it or not. How do you adjust for the party level? If I’m not mistaken, you talk about creating all of your characters in advance, and when you need one, you just pull it out of your database. What if your players decide to investigate a hook whose NPCs and challenges are all geared towards first level characters? Hardly anything in the game is geared for 1st-level since I start at 3rd, but I get your meaning. If something is really easy to accomplish, time is of the essence. There are other adventurers in the world, so if a group of kobolds happened upon a rare artifact, chances are if the PCs didn't follow up on the rumor, someone else did. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe it's not. I try to make sure nothing is stagnant IMC so I'm constantly updating parts of the world as the timeline progresses. However, I keep them updated by triggers, not by date. So the kobold camp may have 3 triggers in the notes for it. Trigger 1: If the PCs enter the camp, the kobolds sound an alarm and summon a pair of fiendish wolves to protect the camp. Trigger 2: If the PCs have already spoken to Malric, the kobolds have sold the artifact. Trigger 3: If the kobolds are no match for the PCs, they have abandoned the camp and migrated north. If the PCs follow their tracks, the tribe was wiped out by a green dragon. Do you constantly update your database to keep in line with the party level? I don't waste the players' time. However, sometimes a random encounter is far beneath their skills. But do the NPCs know that? If not, they might attack (stupidly). If they can tell the PCs are too strong, they avoid confrontation. I just try to play my NPCs smart (if they are smart) and that way no one's time is wasted needlessly. However, there are lots of things way above my party's level in the db. Sometimes they may have to break and come back to a problem or situation in oder to come out on top. Or they may have to enlist help (and surrender many of the spoils of war because of it). For the most part, these are little tweaks, not major adjustments. But there are a few NPCs that have stats for level 4, 8, and 12 because I want them to appear multiple times or something. Do you have such in depth knowledge of the rules that you can add class levels or advance creatures without pre-session work? No. But some calculations are simple. Monstrous HD add CR in BAB and Saves. Feats are every 3 levels and I just use the stats as given or the elite stat array with racial adjustments (basically just put the elite stat array over the MM stats--where it has a +2 bonus, add 4 to the monster's stat). I use an NPC generator for 3.5 that can roll by class, race, sex, level, etc. So if I need some stats, spells, skills, etc. I'll often just hit the generator for it, copy the text and paste it into the database--viola! new NPCs. HP are easy, since I use MM method, just multiply HD x 8 and divide by 2. If the critter is larger, increase the die to d10 or d12 as needed. What if the challenge doesn’t make sense anymore? For example, dire rats can only be advanced so far, and even large numbers won't be challenging above a certain level, what if a plot hinged around fighting dire rats or some other similar creature? If the critters are intelligent, they'll run from being slaughtered en mass. Often higher-level parties will have ways to exterminate mass critters also (great cleave, fireball, etc). Sometimes, critters aren't thrown at a party to kill them, but merely to slow them down or make them expend resources or see their fighting style. My NPCs may use that knowledge and time to prepare themselves better for an upcoming battle. If the PCs are too powerful, engage retreat mode! NPCs hate dying. What if a challenge is too powerful for the PCs current level? They need to run. Simply put, I tell the players when we start a campaign. My world is big. My world is tough. Most commoners are 3rd level, the highest randome NPC is 15th! (1 in 100 chance) If they attack a monestary with 50 monks inside, there is a 50% chance there will be a 15th level monk in there (among the other 6, 8, and 12th level ones). If they are getting beat, they need to run or they're going to die. They've been warned. There's no shame in survivng only to come back a week later with 2 more levels and 5 henchment to clean the place out--in fact that takes guts and smarts. But to just stand there and die--that's really dumb. How do you determine the DCs of certain skill checks without quite knowing what level the PCs might be when they face these challenges? I don't mess with that. If they can't get it, hire someone who can, buy some magic, gain some levels, or figure out another way around, etc. I rarely have things hinged on one check, but if it happens that way, I'm not about to change it. If the DC for something is an epic 45 and the charaters are 6th level, tough. Also how do you decide which plots are going on at any given time? Triggers. By acting (or sometimes not acting) the PCs set things into motion in the campaign world. They kill an NPC, his guild gets ******. They kill a monster, a family is saved. The list goes on. I explain triggers in another thread more completely. I keep track of most of them (as they are triggered) on my timeline, but usually just memory serves, most aren't that complicated. By your descriptions, you sound like you have a lot that’s going on. There are only so many unique plots i.e. only so many escort missions, only so many armies threatening civilization, only so many dungeons holding sacred artifacts, only so many missing people to be found, etc… Do you simultaniously use the same plot multiple times with different parties and motives, or do you have only one of each kind of plot going on at the same time? Well, a trigger may have caused an NPC to approach the PCs about a caravan job. However, if they weren't interested, he still needs his caravan protected. If the NPCs he hired weren't as good as the party, maybe his caravan got sacked. If he didn't say what it was carrying, maybe it was food for a starving village, maybe it was weapons. Either way, it can open up new adventuring possibilities. The more of your own questions you answer, the deeper you get into the details that really make things pop out. How many plots do you have going on at any given time? Not that many. But it's the potential that makes the world seem vibrant. If you only have one path for the PCs to follow, it seems like a video game (a bad one). If you have a few dozen, it seems more like real life. Not everything available to an adventurer is safe, interesting and pays well. Some of it is dangerous, boring, and pays terrible. By mixing it up, those choices seem even more realistic. So you can have 5 plot hooks that lead no where, just random encounters and a little gold and 5 that have deep conspiracies. Not everything has to be 20 layers deep with 40 NPCs involved. Most of my prepared plots have about 2-3 organizations, 4-6 pre-made NPCs (the rest are template or random), 1-2 locations and some other notes. But there may be a dozen ways to trigger that plot and get the characters involved with it. Any of the organizations, where they work, their employees/members, and the NPCs themselves may all try to get the PCs involved. You sound like you put a lot of work into your campaigns as well. What advice would you give someone who only had a couple of hours a week to prepare for a monthly D&D session? Save everything. Make a backup. Save the backup. Having to redo work will kill you. Use as much preprepared stuff as you can (campaign sourcebook type stuff). Even start with a couple of the suggested adventures (who cares if your PCs read it already you can always mix things up later). Plagerize a ton. That gives you a head start. After a couple sessions, you'll probably be ahead of your group and have a multitude of things they can do. Out of my gaming group, I have the best grasp of the rules, but I don’t think it’s nearly the amount of knowledge that it would take to run a free-form campaign like the ones you run. I’m also not very good at improvising, when I do, it ends up lacking believability because I haven’t had time to think it through. I don't try to have an iron-clad grasp of the rules. My players help me out and we all have books and databases with rules in them, and every now and then mistakes still happen. My improvisation, if I can even call it that, stems from a series of Q&A with my NPC (aka myself) about what's going on. For instance: I know (from my source material) that there is a pass that is blocked by orcs and two dwarven citadels use it to trade. Come winter if the pass isn't open, one of the citadels will be cut off and vulnerable. So, who is involved? Two dwarven kings, a bunch of merchants, and some orcs (who closed the pass to 'tresspassers'). Why don't the dwarves just send thier armies into the pass? They're not on speaking terms. Neither wants to send his troops into the situation without first knowing what's there. It's cheap to send adventurers in, especially if they don't survive--then you don't have to pay them. Were the PCs the Kings' first choice? No. this has been going on for months, the merchants are getting restless and some goods have spoiled causing them to loose a lot of money. If they are dwarven, their kings won't see them for them to pressure into a resolution. They are willing to hire their own crew. Would one merchant spend his money to hire adventurers? No. He needs a guild or a coster of merchants who will all profit from the pass being open. So make up a trade coster. How will the PCs clear the orcs out? Not my problem, maybe they won't. Maybe they'll come up with a brilliant idea that I didn't think of. How do I get the PCs involved? A member of the merchant group approaches them about helping clear a trade route of orcs. A local merchant/noble starts offering bounties for orcs. Emmissaries from the dwarven citadels hold a contest to find strong parties that can investigate the matter and live to return with good information about the orc numbers and locations. A third-party nation hires the PCs to guard a mediator, the mediator needs safe passage to one or both of the citadels to try and get the kings to cooperate and work together to solve the problem. The PCs meet a blue dragon that absolutely hates orcs but loves treasure, if they put two and two together, they can introduce the dragon to the orcs and give the dragon the bounties, part of their payment, as well as anything the orcs had stolen from passing caravans. Hope that helps.
Autosponge 06-04-04, 06:37 PM	For example, say a Storm Giant is going to personally capture the prince next week as he (the prince) travels back to the capital city. What if the PCs at 1st level are traveling with the prince when this happens? The giant only wants to talk to the prince. The prince has sent several adventurers to his lair trying to kill him. He won't leave the place as it is sacred to him, but he hasn't provoked the attacks (only when someone came arond poking their head into his lair or defiled the sacred burial grounds). He wants to beg the prince to stop and see things his way. The PCs can do whatever they want and he won't harm them. If they try to rescue the prince they are successful. If they succeed too quickly however, the giant hasn't had enough time to convince the prince and the prince is more determined than ever to destroy the giant. If the PCs try to alert the giant more adventurers are coming, he thanks them and resigns to let himself be slain. However, if the PCs offer to get him some help or somehow call off the attack, the giant rewards them. Since you never know what the PCs are going to do, you can't depend on them to back down from the fight. What if perhaps it was a high CR creature the players have never seen before and would not know to back down from it? If it's big, it's probably really strong too. If it has lots of teeth, it can bite you. Just describe it to your players and they'll get the point. "The ground shakes as a tall humanoid form emerges from the trees. Several of the tallest pines bend to the enormous creature's will. He lumbers forth and the ground shakes causing the cart to rattle and the horses to panic. Two of the strongest guards from the caravan, and the old veteran each whip their horses and ride off in the opposite direction at full speed. What do you do?" vs. "You see a large creature, what do you do?" Do you let it happen and see what plays out (even if the PCs may die) or do you nerf it at the last second by having the creature use subdual damage or have the creatures minions perform the work instead? Reward brilliant play and punish stupid play. The correct decision in that situation is run. However, the prince either will not run or can't (maybe frozen in fear). Maybe it's not the way I purposed it and the giant merely crushes the prince underfoot while the PCs watch. Hey, better him than you... but now you have to explain yourselves (not that anyone would blame you, but a few ranks in perform will make sure it sounds like you got out by the skin of your teeth). The opposite is true as well. Perhaps you've dropped clues over the campaign about a dire rat worshipping cult that the players, randomly, at 14th level decide to investigate. Don't forget that you've prepared the challenges and NPCs involved in advance. Do you just drop the plot completely and tell the players that the investigation turns up that someone else came along and eliminated the cult? Let the PCs wipe it out in a few seconds. Uh-oh... the local farmers liked the rat cult because the worshippers would feed the rats who before would raid their crops for food. The cult members would actually *buy* the farmers' grain. Now he needs someone to buy his grain (since his local buyer is no more) and a way to protect his crop for more rats. Or A demon began answering their prayers hoping to build enough of a following to raise his status in baator. Add some fiendish and undead templates in there, make the cultists all were-rats, a 10th level evil cleric leader, and an actual demon (or maybe the PCs catch the group in the middle of a ritual to summon him). Or The cult's giant dire rat was killed by a young dragon so they worship it now. The dragon likes having small-folk wait on him and has them do bizarre tasks simply for his amusement.
Autosponge 06-04-04, 06:38 PM	Try to think of each thing as an opportunity rather than a problem. Then just ask the question and answer it with the first thing that pops up. Check it for corniness, and move on.
Mythmere 06-04-04, 07:26 PM	BTW, Autosponge, are you going to play in the Master DM Competition on the DMG Board? I've sort of been watching to see if you or Gleep were going to sign up - I don't want to fill the roster before you guys have a chance to say yea or nay.
Autosponge 06-04-04, 07:27 PM	Didn't know there was such a thing, you have a link?
Mythmere 06-04-04, 07:29 PM	Originally posted by Autosponge Didn't know there was such a thing, you have a link? Sorry. Here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=251333)
Sarta 06-04-04, 09:57 PM	I think the key to what Auto and other good dm's do is to actually understand the impact of events in a specific setting. Quite often, dm's run a series of unconnected adventures and aside from the increased weath and experience level of the players there are few repercussions. Many dm's prepare rumors for their players. However, they should consider that these rumors are also known by npc's in the area who, just like the pc's, can decide to get involved. When the pc's succeed or fail at an endeavor, this too enters the local rumor mill and can lead to further developments. If you know the various power-groups for a region and a few key npc's you won't be necessarily improvising, but reacting, when changes occur in the setting. By having the exploits of the party have repercussions, not only does the world come alive and seem far more realistic, it also is a form of reward (or punishment) for the pc's. They see that what they do (or fail to do) has an impact. So, outline the power-groups and various npc's, figure out what their various goals are and examine the opportunities available in their current setting. Then follow up on these, how would these people take advantage of these opportunities. When a major change occurs in the setting, give some thought as to how this will impact these various locals and how they will react. Sarta
Autosponge 06-05-04, 01:22 AM	That's very good advice, Sarta. In fact, I'll post my basic outline for all "organizations". Organizations can be a loose knit group of monsters or a confederate council--anything that binds 2 or more NPCs (or PCs) together. Here's an example, the basic points you should try to fill in are in bold. Links to other notes (NPCs, Organizations, or Places) are in blue (these aren't really links, just to give you the idea). Most of this is pulled from existing 2nd and 3rd ed. WotC sources, but it's the format, and having it all in one place, that give you power when you DM. Name : Argent Legion News Argent Legion Fort Construction Argent Legion Recruiters Needed Argent Legion - Supply Lines Argent Legion - Quaervarr Muster Argent Legion - Wind Riders Argent Legion - Survey Newfort People Methrammar Aerasumé - High Marshal Jandar Starblade - Commander of Legion Company assigned to Citadel Felbar (200) Places Rauvinwatch Keep - Headquarters Plots Background The army of the confederation of the Silver Marches. Patrols vigorously in the Moonlands and Rauvin Foothills. Patrols of the Argent Legion The Argent Legion, a thinly scattered army of soldiers drawn from each of the member cities of the league of the Silver Marches, makes efforts to extend the region of patrols from the vicinity of the major settlements into the wilds. To the west they go as far as the junction of the Rauvin and the Surbrin rivers. To the south, they watch the Evermoors and the shadows under the High Forest. To the east, the Argent Legion patrols no farther than Moon Pass in the Nether Mountains, but on the other side of the mountains in Old Delzoun they patrol as far as the ruins of Ascore. Finally, to the north, the soldiers patrol up the Surbrin, skirting the verges of the Moonwood and Cold Wood, and into the wild Ice Mountains in the east. The patrols raid when necessary into the Moonwood, Evermoors, and Far Forest to harry giants, goblinoid tribes, and beasts. They make regular forays into the Silverwood and along the Evermoor Way to make sure its run between the Silverwood and the High Forest remains open and relatively safe. They heavily patrol the Rauvin Vale on both banks, as far north as the Nether foothills and as far south as the verges of the High Forest between Silverymoon and Jalanthar. Standing guards are maintained in the vital Moon Pass and in Silverymoon Pass, and large armed escorts regularly accompany caravans along the Fork Road, Redrun Gallop (between Sundabar and Citadel Felbarr), and along the Adbar Road. Right now, the Argent Legion tastes battle most often along the Adbar and in the rolling lands of the North Run between Quaervarr and Citadel Felbarr -- and they recommend that travelers not attempt either route without their escort. In practice, this means caravans must arrange to accompany Argent Legion forces and follow the orders of Legion commanders -- it does not mean that any traveler can call for an escort or expect timely aid if they go alone and get into trouble. Other highly dangerous areas at present include the Evermoors , the Fork Road east of the Adbar road, and Turnstone Pass . It's not recommended that travelers enter these areas, and they can expect no assistance from the soldiers of the Silver Marches if they do.
Mythmere 06-05-04, 02:14 AM	Autosponge gave an example of a group that can act as a patron or as a kind of reflection of the party's increasing power. I can't emphasize enough how rewarding it is for players to "see" their increasing power and status in the eyes of NPCs. They'll work for this as hard as for gold - the sergeant who is gruff the first time he meets the players, but doffs his cap after they kill the goblins - now THAT'S a reward in the eyes of the players. In one adventure, my characters traveled overland with a chef and pavilion tents. It was almost a rite of passage for them - they had arrived. They had the style, the cash and the power they'd worked so hard to attain. They loved every minute of it. The other type of organization to create (just the bare bones are all you need - you can make up the rest if needed if you have the kind of resources Autosponge has described earlier) - is the villainous organization. Any BBEG (big bad evil guy) has his own organization. He's watching things, too. If you keep an eye on how these civilized and evil groups are seeing the players, and what they might be doing to each other, you've got a good source of adventure ideas. Thinking about what's happening in the campaign world outside of your players' activity is a bit like daydreaming: you just mentally browse your world, thinking about how it ticks. But the result is (1) a living, breathing world, (2) adventure plots, (3) vastly improved "realism" when your players interact with or just see events that aren't linked to the storyline - they're just happening in the world.