This style of running a game is different from the more classic and common-place game that might look a little like this:
The PCs move from dungeon to dungeon, town to town, inn to inn as they finish quests and level up. With exception of powerful authority figures and the villains of the game, other NPCs are not recurring. PC actions have meaning in the context of the quest but rarely affect the next destination (the PCs clear a cave of orcs, but this bears no effect on a cave of hobgoblins who have been at war with the orcs for years).
There is nothing wrong with this style of play, and it can be easier and more enjoyable for DM and PC alike. Nor does this style of play impede roleplaying in any way, it merely confines it to specific locations, quests and context.
The persistent world refers to a type of game that might look more like this instead:
The PCs deal with the same groups (City Watch, Evil Cult, Big Temple, etc) and NPCs on a day-to-day basis, the quests and adventures are usually linked together, and depending on PC actions the way the PCs finish one quest might affect the outcome of another quest. The NPCs and groups have their own motivations, goals and particular ways of dealing with situations and interacting with the PCs.
In this style of a game, the PCs do not deal with a new innkeeper every adventure, they usually deal with Bald Tomash – proprietor of their favorite inn – who might water down the ale from time to time and does not like dwarves, but loves his two little daughters very much and is always good for a funny story or the rumor of the day. The King’s representative is not a new magistrate every adventure, but Lord Eldenik – charming and suave, but ruthless and without scruples in pursuing his duty. The magic shop owner the dependable old Bael Grimeye – a gruff dwarf who the party helped in the past by retrieving his stolen shipment, but who is now blackmailed by the Broken Rope gang the party had bumped into last month while on a mission for Lord Eldenik.
In this game, the PCs and their players get to know many different NPCs and groups, and build relationships and enmities with many of them. This requires a lot of preparation, roleplaying effort, and knowledge of the setting. The persistent style of play is challenging for both the DM and the players is many ways, and I’d like to offer some advice for DMs who are thinking on embarking on such a campaign,
1) Know your NPCs and groups. You don’t need to stat out every single NPC right away, or come up with a full bio for each one. Come up first with the NPCs that will be most important to the party to start off with. The local innkeeper, the magic shop owner, the armor and weapon store owner, the main representative of authority, the local known crime boss, the head of the temple the party is likely to go to. Also, if you already have a story or campaign arc in mind, identify the key NPCs in this story. If it involves the king, his half-fiend bastard son, the power-hungry archmage and a secretive order of good assassins, think about what kind of characters they would be. Again, no need to stat them right away (other than a general idea of their race, gender, class), but have an understanding of where these people would fit in. Keep a list of NPCs handy. When a party strikes up an unexpected friendship or rivalry with a completely random NPC, write down the NPC’s name and whatever description you initially gave to the player, and come up with motivations, goals and quirks afterwards, so that the next time the PCs run into that NPC you are better prepared and make the NPC even more believable.
2) The NPCs and groups should have some way of distinguishing themselves in the eyes of the party. This does not mean that every singly NPC must be a half-dragon or a fiend or a Lammasu in disguise, or that each one has some sort of secret or mysterious past, or that each one is out to screw the PCs over in some way, but it does mean that the players and PCs are able to identify and link a particular quirk, behavior or event with an NPC or group. When you make an NPC or a group, come up with one or two quirks or distinguishing characteristics that are sure to come up multiple times over the course of the game. For some inspirations, the DMG has a large list of possible quirks to give to your NPC on the fly, and of course there are myriad other possibilities: your favorite movie or TV series or book characters, an interesting person you see on a bus or in the grocery store, and so on.
3) Come up with motivations for your NPCs and groups. This does not mean that every single city guard, merchant and thief must have his own personal goal, but the NPCs that have dealings with the PC on a regular basis (or important in other ways, such as the distant king who’s preparing for war) should have their own goals and motivations. The local innkeeper is out to save a buck to help cure his sick daughter and so he waters down his ale. The city guard is bored with his job and dreams of becoming a renowned knight or gladiator. The king has to pay a large debt and decides to seize his loyal vassal’s lands to pay that debt. Not all motivations and goals must involve the PCs, but even so – having personal goals and aspirations helps distinguish one NPC from another. Some of these motivations might never affect the campaign at all, others might do so in unexpected way when a PC decides to help or hinder an NPC’s goal. Having motivations and goals also helps you decide how the NPC reacts to the PCs and their actions. Will the NPC be interested in stopping the PCs, enlisting their help, or avoiding their help at any cost (for example)? If the PC takes an interest in your NPC’s life, you already understand your NPC better, and will have an easier time coming up with a possible adventure involving that NPC.
4) Be adaptable. Even more so than a normal D&D game, a persistent-style game requires the DM to be quick on her feet. You have a much larger cast of characters, a whole soap opera lot of them to consider. You must be prepared to make on the fly decisions and sometimes they might not be the best ones, or the ones that the NPC or a group would likely make. That’s OK! Don’t panic, take a deep breath. Rationalize the decision afterwards if the players notice the inconsistencies. Perhaps there is some hidden factor at work that the PCs are not aware of. Strange behavior of their usually friendly innkeeper could be because the enemy of the PCs has dominated the innkeeper to poison them. A powerful good temple doesn’t eradicate infestation of undead? Perhaps their most powerful crusaders are called away to a distant battlefield. Don’t forget to note it down when you have changed something. Refer to your notes at a later time to review them, and possible come up with a continuation of the original curveball. The crusaders of the good temple return and are more than happy to reward the PCs (and maybe induct them in their ranks) for defending their temple while the crusaders were away for example.
5) Stuff happens not just to PCs, and unexpected stuff happens because of the PCs. This is one of the most crucial elements of a persistent world. When the PCs refuse to stop pirate attacks because they’re not paid enough, common people might starve, or prices on certain goods go up. The local magic shop owner might decide to retire, selling it to someone else. One of the biggest challenges and potential drawbacks of persistent-style game is that sometimes the players will tire of dealing with the same NPCs and groups, and introducing a brand new one may be difficult or impossible at the moment. Having events happen to your NPCs and groups, and possibly change their actions and motivations, is a way of dealing with them. When the king suddenly turns tyrannical and cruel because he is corrupted by a fiend, this turns the game into a new dramatic direction, just as if the PCs had traveled to a land ruled by an evil overlord. The new head of the local thieves guild is less bloodthirsty than his predecessor, and might seek a rapprochement with the PCs. This “stuff” might happen as a result of the PC action, or it might not, and it does not need to involve them directly, but it does make the world more believable and can provide you with new adventure opportunities.
6) Stuff happens to the world. Perhaps just as crucial as the previous point, stuff happens to the world at large, as well as the PCs and their immediate surroundings and NPCs. If there has been heavy rain for last three days, the sewers might be overflowing and so the PCs must postpone their plan to infiltrate the smuggling ring. Poor harvest drives up the price of food and consequently the price of everything else. Come up with interesting events that impact your world and the PCs. Anything from weather to barbarian invasion to a plague or rumors of a new prophet can do. It doesn’t have to impact the PCs (at least right away), but the players should feel that they are not the center of the universe – things happen when PCs are not there, things happen that PCs might not be able to change (I hope they can’t do anything about a bad weather in the entire kingdom at least). Come up with a short list of interesting things that can happen in your world. That way if the players are ever bored and looking for an interesting rumor you have one ready. Or, if you need an explanation ready for why the temples can’t provide healing all of a sudden, you can always insert a plague (and all the clerics are called away to contain it).
Two things can help you manage the events happening in your world. The first is a list. Yes, yet another list. If you come up with an event on the fly, make sure you record it; that way you don’t have to rack your brain or appear unprepared when one of your players say: “Wait, but didn’t you say that Barony of Vladagath was invaded by the southern nomads last time?” The second thing that can help and it has worked extremely well in a number of games for me, is making a newsletter. It can either be an in-game newspaper (or broadsheet or pennysheet for an earlier historical equivalent), or simply a collection of rumors and news that the PCs will likely hear on the streets. That way, if the players just want to do Gather Information, or sit in the tavern and chat up the locals, you can simply give them the newsletter with all the information that they are likely to receive for that week. Again, by hearing news from far away lands or dealing with people that PCs are unfamiliar with, it helps them believe that the world is alive and they are just one part of it. The PCs might even see the results (and unintended consequences) of their actions. Although the PCs natural instinct will be to look into adventure hooks in every single rumor, soon enough they’ll catch on that it’s not all about them.
In general, running a persistent world requires more work before you start the campaign, but less preparation and more on-the-fly decisions once the campaign starts. Prepare important and ‘most likely to stick around’ NPCs and some quirks and motivations for them. Research (or develop yourself) the setting. Prepare some adventure hooks, no need to fully develop them yet, but have a general idea of what the PCs could be doing with their time. There are many resources available to you for adventure hooks as well as quickly coming up with quests. DMG is an obvious source, many supplement books contain tables such as “Adventure hooks for arcane characters” or “Adventure hooks for valorous characters”, and so on. DMG Toolbox is a book full of nothing but lists and tables, for everything from providing detailed room description, to sample NPCs, to adventure ideas.
You will soon discover that with a bit of extra preparation the game will nearly run itself, as the PCs will get involved and interested in the lives of your NPCs, the intrigues and conflicts between the PCs, NPCs and groups will generate adventure and stories on their own, and the PCs will actively seek adventure and opportunities for advancement on their own rather than waiting for you to drop the next dungeon in their lap. Such a game will of course be a challenge at first, but will ultimately provide a great deal of enjoyment and growth for both the DM and the players. Good luck!
I also use a list of rumors I can pull from when players use gather information. Some rumors are true, some have some truth in them, and some are completely false. I also list gather information DCs along with the rumors so I can readily decide what the players can and can't discover with their information gathering. Plus by mixing true and false rumors together the players realize everything they hear might not be true.
One way to achieve this is to summarise the setting's theme in three short phrases.
E.g.
"Demons are the root of all evil."
"There is nothing so pure it can't be corrupted."
"Kingdoms fall, cities are ruined, magic is declining."
Those evoke a dark, even desperate, setting. Given such parameters it is pretty easy to create the inconsequential parts, like geography, rulers, etc., on fly.
I imagine that when you run through a few games with different PCs and take a look back at where it all began. I bet there is a feeling of accomplishment.
Later they meet him, and find out he is now an apprentice wizard. He thanks them for their advice and promises to help them if he can.
Much later (like 15 years in game), they meet him again and he is a mid-level wizard with considerable power. He reminds them that they may ask his favour if they desire it.
All this was from a level 1 commoner with freakishly high INT (I rolled an 18 on an organic 3d6 roll) who was originally a very minor distraction to a level 3 adventure.
Keep a list of NPCs handy.
The relationship map -- a concept from fiction writing, IIRC -- is very useful technique here. Basically, it's just a big diagram, like a flowchart or something, with NPCs in boxes and connectors between them representing... well, connections between them. It's a good way to see how events percolate through the world, so to speak.
Those evoke a dark, even desperate, setting. Given such parameters it is pretty easy to create the inconsequential parts, like geography, rulers, etc., on fly.
How the hell is geography and politics inconsequential in a persistent setting?
How the hell is geography and politics inconsequential in a persistent setting?
Because you can fill it in as you go based on your three core tenets or similar high-level abstract stuff. It's often sufficient to just scribble down "the north kingdom is a place full of despair, superstition, and civil war" until you actually need to bring it into play. It's both less work and more dynamic that way.
Because you can fill it in as you go based on your three core tenets or similar high-level abstract stuff. It's often sufficient to just scribble down "the north kingdom is a place full of despair, superstition, and civil war" until you actually need to bring it into play. It's both less work and more dynamic that way.
My DM style is like that too. I DM a persistent world (as opposed to a story line) with events, NPCs, etc, and the PCs pave the storyline by following their motivations and responding to the world around them.
I create a lot of stuff on the fly, and when I mention a name of a kingdom, or mention some sort of country, I take note of it, and build the world from there, as the players explore it. I try to make it big enough that they have any direction they want to go, and then as they forge forth, I set more in stone about the world.
I never have to define what some country on the other side of the world is doing, if it isn't part of the events that the players are following. This doesn't mean I don't have an idea of what's over there for possibly another hook to throw at the PCs, but that doesn't mean that I need to iron it out before a campaign.
I never have to define what some country on the other side of the world is doing, if it isn't part of the events that the players are following. This doesn't mean I don't have an idea of what's over there for possibly another hook to throw at the PCs, but that doesn't mean that I need to iron it out before a campaign.
And, moreover, it means that you don't have to create everything in one big giant burst of creativity (which, whenever I've seen anyone attempt this, tends to turn into a small burst of creativity followed by hours of torturing your brain). And that the idea that you explore when the group wanders off in a given direction is a fresh, interesting one, relevant to right now, rather than something you thought up two years ago that could potentially not be that cool for you anymore.
I intend to be the first DM (of hopefully several other) running in a gaming-group specific world, which starts small and slowly gets bigger as more adventures are played, and more DMs run their stories and games in it. My hope is to create a consistent/persistent world like the one described.