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Dusk Eclipse
2010-11-23, 02:59 PM
Question on the title?

How do you start? do you write the expected course of events? do you stat up the enemies you want your players to face? map the dungeons, roads, whatever?

Just curious, and hoping to get some pointers.

randomhero00
2010-11-23, 03:03 PM
Question on the title?

How do you start? do you write the expected course of events? do you stat up the enemies you want your players to face? map the dungeons, roads, whatever?

Just curious, and hoping to get some pointers.

Start with any idea, any cool thought. Connect it with another, this can easily be a rip off of some book or movie. Then interweave said cool thoughts until it starts to look like a story. Then fill in the details.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-11-23, 03:06 PM
I already have the basic idea for the campaign; now I am really having trouble putting in on paper.

And if I try to think of it as a story, I will be tempted to railroad my players into following the course of the story.

AstralFire
2010-11-23, 03:11 PM
Take your begin point.

Take your end goal.

Then go session by session. When planning that session, imagine you are playing - and each time a place for player option presents itself, write five possible outcomes. Some of these options branch back to each other, others don't. And you will never predict even a third of the options the PCs take - but you're prepared and ready because you know the world damn well. I call this building a network, something in-between sandbox and railroad. You can drive them towards a purpose, but they're free to choose other options.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-11-23, 03:14 PM
Wow... that is a pretty good idea... more work that I expected, but from my position it seems that it will work perfectly.

Sipex
2010-11-23, 03:15 PM
(Apply to anything from a small side quest to over-arching plot)

1) Create a situation which needs solving.
2) Create consequences for not solving the situation.
3) Create NPCs/Monsters to run the situation.

Otodetu
2010-11-23, 03:35 PM
Always be ready for the unexpected, make sure the world can handle the players, and don't go epic.

Gnaritas
2010-11-23, 03:51 PM
You have to remember that there is always some railroading involved, unless you are playing a sandbox, but more likely there is an endgoal.

You should however keep the means to get to that endgoal as open as possible.

I also had a bunch of side quests available, i throw some small hints at them and see if they take the bait. If they don't i will either try again the next time they are in the city, or rework the sidequest a little so i can use it in a different location, or even better, make a sidequest that is a result of them not taking the previous sidequest.

I also have a bunch of random encounters available, i make my own tables to represent what i feel are logical encounters for them at that point.

It's also important to not plan too far ahead, the players might do something you do not expect.

Also, do not worry about taking your time during a session to work something out. I do not do this often, but sometimes something unexpected happens, in a lot of cases i try not to let the players notice this, but sometimes i need to think on it: "ok....you guys go look through these books for new items or something for 5 minutes while i try to work get something worked out". Your players might even enjoy the fact that they did something you did not expect.

Gnaritas
2010-11-23, 03:53 PM
Always be ready for the unexpected, make sure the world can handle the players, and don't go epic.

I disagree, i am thinking more along the lines of:
"Try to think of as much options for the party as you can, but always be ready to improvise."

Don't go epic is an excellent advice. Hell, even a teleport can ruin campaigns.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-11-23, 03:56 PM
Well epic is definitely not on my plans, too much hassle and I don't really want to deal with epic spells.

Right now I am trying to figure out and endgoal...right now I only have a fairly general idea for the setting and just little idea of what I would want to do with it.

dsmiles
2010-11-23, 03:57 PM
My Adventures in a Nutshell:

1. Take a few bits from a character history or two. Meld them together.
2. Write a quick outline of desired events.
3. Stat up the BBEG and a fewer higher level minions.
4. Throw out a few character history-related plot hooks.
5. Pray that they take the bait and remain interested.
6. ???
7. Profit.

AstralFire
2010-11-23, 03:58 PM
I think it's very telling that I can think of exactly zero video games that allow anything like teleport - the closest you ever get are stationary portals (usually to places you've already been) or one-way recall spells.

It's not just a technical limitation, but a realization that true long-range personal teleportation completely ruins a lot of stories. The only novel series I can think of with long-range teleportation is Enchanted Forest Chronicles, where each spell is a huge energy drain on the caster, with relatively limited range compared to D&D. Star Trek's teleportation is limited to a very short range considering they cruise a quarter of the galaxy and they still short out the transporter a lot.

And...

Aw, screw it. I'll just put this in:
http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/350663450_xguJV-L-2.jpg

Sipex
2010-11-23, 03:59 PM
Well epic is definitely not on my plans, too much hassle and I don't really want to deal with epic spells.

Right now I am trying to figure out and endgoal...right now I only have a fairly general idea for the setting and just little idea of what I would want to do with it.

This is a totally fine way to start.

You don't have to have the end goal in mind right now, maybe play a few sessions of side quests (or come up with a smaller but still serious goal) while you figure it out

Dusk Eclipse
2010-11-23, 04:05 PM
The idea I have in mind, is a world where psionics control the world, and they view arcane magic as abomination to be destroyed. I would set the players as part of a not-so novice (hate low-levels) group of mage-hunters in this world. I actually asked for someone to run this by pbp, since at the moment I asked for it I didn't had the time to run or plan it;, ubt as I am technically too weeks from vacations, I think I might try to run it with my RL group.

I think I will start with generic seek and destroy type of missions, and then... I think I can figure out how to continue after some sessions..

Gnaritas
2010-11-23, 04:08 PM
Wow... that is a pretty good idea... more work that I expected, but from my position it seems that it will work perfectly.

It's not as much work as you might think.

Sidequest: They meet an aggressive lone dwarf on the road

Options:
- They fight the dwarf and kill him, in the next town they are confronted with what caused the dwarf to act so agressively, apparently there are some humans there who through dubious legal actions have deprived him of his land and house. His wife and childeren are now homeless and fatherless.
- They fight the dwarf and drag him to the next town to take him to the guards, also leading to the same conclusion.
- They manage to talk to the dwarf to hear his story.
- They ignore the dwarf.

Now what do they do about the situation of the dwarven family.
- They go to the guards in that town, are they corrupt and working with the previously mentioned humans?
- They go directly to those humans, how do they respond, if it becomes a fight, what happens, have their statblocks, is there backup.
- They ....

Anything you don't predict you have to improvise on, but since you have thought through a lot of different situations you can usually rework one of those options into something that still works out. If for example they decide to simply burn the house of those humans down (something you didn't anticipate) you have the previously mentioned backup be alarmed by the fire while the humans are desperately trying to escape the burning house.

Sipex
2010-11-23, 04:08 PM
You know of Dark Sun, right?

The Big Dice
2010-11-23, 04:09 PM
I draw up a beat chart. It's an idea I got from the Dream Park RPG.

Basically, each beat is about 30 mins of play and covers an event or situation that needs to be resolved.

You start with a Hook, which is something to get the players attention. It can be as simple as the Mysterious Stranger in the inn tells you where the Hoard of S'um Dedguy can be found, or as complex as you like. The idea is this sets the stage for what's to follow.

After that comes a sequence of Cliffhangers and Developments.

A Cliffhanger is something where you dont know for sure what the outcome is going to be. It could be a D&D 4th ed Skill Challenge, it could be a fight, it could be an NPC that you need to convince to lend you his dragon. Whatever it is, it has to be something that needs dice to resolve.

A Development pushes the plot forwards. It could be a revelation that the evil tyrant is in fact a PC's father's sister's cousin's uncle. It could be a pointer scene that tells people what needs to be done to rescue Timmy from the well. It can be just about anything, as long as it moves the plot forwards.

After around 6-8 alternating Cliffhangers and Developments comes a Climax. This is where the events of the session come to a head in some way. It could be a boss fight, it could be the Council of Elrond. The function of this event is to bring that session's play to a satisfactory conclusion.

And finally comes the Resolution. Loose ends can be tied up, future events can be foreshadowed, ad libs can be made around the captain's chair. I usually use this to signpost where things might be going next session.

As you can probably tell, this method of session planning is fairly loose, and lends itself to an episodic, TV show feel to things. Which I feel is entirely appropriate to the episodic nature of most campaigns.

And it works well for campaign planning, too. Instead of each beat being a half hour of game play, use it to represent one session of game play.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-11-23, 04:10 PM
I know of it, never played in it. But AFAIK in dark sun while everyone has a bit of psionic ability, the sorcerer kings (AKA arcane casters) still control the world, in this idea the psions are in control, they are the goberment, arcane talent is extremely rare and people who practice it are killed on sight, no questions asked.

Sipex
2010-11-23, 04:14 PM
I know of it, never played in it. But AFAIK in dark sun while everyone has a bit of psionic ability, the sorcerer kings (AKA arcane casters) still control the world, in this idea the psions are in control, they are the goberment, arcane talent is extremely rare and people who practice it are killed on sight, no questions asked.

Ah, same idea to a point but not quite, I see.

Well, you sound like you have a decent setting. I guess your first task is "What do I do if my players don't like hunting down arcane casters?" and "Am I banning my players from starting with arcane classes?"

Gnaritas
2010-11-23, 04:14 PM
The idea I have in mind, is a world where psionics control the world, and they view arcane magic as abomination to be destroyed. I would set the players as part of a not-so novice (hate low-levels) group of mage-hunters in this world. I actually asked for someone to run this by pbp, since at the moment I asked for it I didn't had the time to run or plan it;, ubt as I am technically too weeks from vacations, I think I might try to run it with my RL group.

I think I will start with generic seek and destroy type of missions, and then... I think I can figure out how to continue after some sessions..

At some point the party might figure out that mages are not as evil as they were thought to believe and now they are trying to take down the psionic control of the world or at least try to put an end to the mage-hunting.
If that is not what the party feels like (you do not want to force that opinion on the party) the mages could be planning a mayor take over and they are to stop it.
Or have one of the party members get arcane powers and see how they deal with it...

Gahrer
2010-11-23, 04:15 PM
(Apply to anything from a small side quest to over-arching plot)

1) Create a situation which needs solving.
2) Create consequences for not solving the situation.
3) Create NPCs/Monsters to run the situation.




Then go session by session. When planning that session, imagine you are playing - and each time a place for player option presents itself, write five possible outcomes. Some of these options branch back to each other, others don't. And you will never predict even a third of the options the PCs take - but you're prepared and ready because you know the world damn well. I call this building a network, something in-between sandbox and railroad. You can drive them towards a purpose, but they're free to choose other options.

These two are excellent advice in my opinion. Also, dont be afraid to let the PC:s do something completley out what you planned. For example, in my previous campaign the PC:s were sent out to stop a mad and extremly powerfull cult leader from achieving godhood by means of an evil ritual powered by millions of corpses. When the (evil) PC:s learned about this plan they said "Lets kill the guy and become gods ourselves". In the end they didnt choose that but they had the option. :smalltongue:

Godskook
2010-11-23, 04:16 PM
Here's what I'm doing so far, and I've managed to stay 1-step ahead of my PCs so far:

1.Establish what you *KNOW* about your PCs and their players. Example: My players are low-optimization, and actually like following DM breadcrumbs. I don't need railroad tracks. So far, if I fluff an NPC, they'll talk to him. If I mention trouble over there, they'll try to fix it.

2.Create vague events, plots and villains in your world that will, eventually, come into opposition with the players. In my world, I've got 3 main groups so far. A cabal of mindflayers bent on super-soldier creation through experimentation, a powerful wizard who views the PCs as pawns in a casual xanatos gambit he's running, the dragons, who are just now realizing that the ancient predator isn't hunting them anymore, and thus they can start worrying about more than hiding their eggs to ensure their cicada-like survival as a species, and finally, the government who is responsible for containing aforementioned ancient predator, who is semi-actively hunting the PCs for their weakly-implied involvement in weakening the beast's cage(Yes, a tad ripped off from OotS, but I'm not dead-set on getting the PCs captured).

3.Using step #1, figure out what your PCs are likely to do in the coming session that'll bump them into 1 or more of the items in step #2. Will my PCs start investigating the Cabal? Will the town they're in be affected by the Dragons establishing territory? Will the government send investigators to the region the PCs are in? What about that wizard, is he an active or passive threat, and are the PCs going to go looking for him, ever? In my case, the town the PCs are in is about to become bothered by a dragon establishing territory.

4.Start fleshing it out! For me, that means picking a specific dragon, deciding what kind of minions he has available, and deciding how loyal they are. How adverse is the dragon to diplomacy? Etc, etc. I stretch it out properly, and I'll have 2-3 sessions just surrounding this dragon. I focus less on what the PCs are doing and more on what's going to happen with or without the PCs involved. As the PCs place themselves into the events, that changes plans, but changing a plan already in-action is what the NPCs would be dealing with if they were individually sentient, so this helps me get into their mindsets.

valadil
2010-11-23, 04:18 PM
I don't write plots, I write NPCs. They don't need stats yet, just goals. Usually one of them will have some crazy scheme to conquer the city/thieves guild/world/universe. I put the NPCs in the world and watch them try and accomplish their goals. Then I put the players in the world. The NPCs can try to get the players to work for them. Often this work means conflict with another NPC.

I keep a list of running plots. One of the things the traits of my games is that I run lots of NPC's plots at the same time. Each of these gets a page in my notebook. The plot has a paragraph describing it. Each session, I'll update the plot. "Lucien got the PCs to investigate undead in the mountains." or "The players never showed up so Angnor hired someone else." Just a sentence or two to say what happened that session.

Writing a game session is mostly just a matter of listing what I expect to happen. If the PCs are going somewhere I figure out who they'll bump into and what that person will have to say. If someone is looking for the PCs, I try and figure out if they'll be able to find them. If the players are going to be asked to do something I'll write up notes detailing what that something is. IE the bartender's rat infested basement needs a map and I'll note what page of the MM includes dire rat stats.

If I'm doing a really good job planning I'll try to make sure that there's an NPC who bumps into the group for each PC. I want everyone to have their own people and plots, but that's not always possible. Ideally though, I'll have a note saying to which PC each NPC or message is addressed and I can pull that out when a PC is looking bored.

How far to plan is something I've learned over the past 7 years. I usually get an hour out of each page of notes, but that varies. I try to make sure combats are meaningful and not just random encounters, although in times of weakness I've used combat as filler. Ideally I want combats to be intentional. Either the PCs know the name of the person they're fighting or the NPC tracked down the PCs by knowing their name. Wandering monsters that happen to be in the way just don't do it for me and I try to only use them during long travel.

None of my notes are set in stone. They're just a forecast for where I expect the players to go and how I'll handle it when they get there. Because I take an NPC driven approach I have an easy time improvising. If the players don't do what I expect, I roleplay the NPC and have him react to whatever the players are doing.

Planning a campaign is a little more nebulous. I usually keep a list of things that would be cool. I don't stat them out. I just keep the list in my back pocket to deploy when necessary. Most of my game sessions are continuations of previous sessions. I do try to predict where the game will end, but I never force it. The past three campaigns I've done have had no long term plans beyond what the NPCs meant to do. Once the games started up I saw what the players found interes This lets me get away with doing very little work in terms of coming up with original ideas, because all my generic NPCs and pting and followed those plot threads. This is a lesson I learned after my first campaign, wherein the players enjoyed all the sideplots but couldn't care less about the main villain. Now the main villain becomes whichever antagonist they hate the most.

--addendum--

The NPC plots listed at first should also include plots derived from the PCs. Read through their backstories and highlight anything that could be turned into a plot. Also highlight any NPCs, especially if they're named. Make sure you use these. Otherwise the PC's backstory is just homework.

Also, people have suggested that running parallel plots creates more work. I disagree. The more plots I touch upon in a session, the less I have to plan for each one. Basically the longer you spend on any one plot each session, the further in the future you have to predict. If you spend 4 hours on one plot, the players make pass several decisions. If you've branched out all possibilities at those decisions, you'll be throwing out most of the options. However, if you only run the plot for long enough for one decision to be reached, you can plan for that decision and then cut the plot short but running a different plot. You don't have to branch past that first decision, so you don't end up considering as many possibilities. I've explained this in more detail, with diagrams here (http://gm.sagotsky.com/?p=217).

arrowhen
2010-11-23, 04:35 PM
I devise NPCs and organizations with conflicting goals, with an eye toward conflicts the PCs are likely to want to get involved in. "Plot" is just the natural interaction between PCs and NPCs trying to achieve their goals.

PairO'Dice Lost
2010-11-23, 04:55 PM
Improvise and think on your feet. You can never predict what PCs will do, and the more time and preparation you invest in something, the more likely they are to ignore it in favor of something you never saw coming. Know where you want to start the campaign and where you want to end it and don't plan any plot in between; write NPCs and vague scenarios you can drop in anywhere, and let the PCs determine the rest.

For instance, I ran one campaign (three campaigns ago) where the premise was that a secret brotherhood within an elven empire had conspired with the devils to help the elves conquer the world in exchange for free access to the Prime. There were two parties of five PCs each in the same world (one goblin party and one human party), and both had about the same basic, simple plans to start with. The first session went about as expected, with the PCs escaping elven troops, meeting up with some dwarven resistance fighters, etc.

By the end of the fourth session, the goblin PCs had united all of the major non-elven races in the area in a massive trade agreement under their newly-established Platinum Scales Merchanting Company, created a base of operations in a dormant volcano, and begun construction of a gigantic flying Blastoise-esque turtle-shaped stone fortress. The human PCs had infiltrated a major elven city, started turning a bunch of elven troops into spawns of Kyuss to cause chaos in the ranks, and headed to the Plane of Shadow to meet up with the Votaries of Vecna.

By the end of the ninth session, the goblin party had started destroying ancient devilish artifacts on the Inner Planes that were aiding the invasion effort, run into a Husk of Infinite Worlds from Eberron and turned it sentient to help them, and had two of their number join a yugoloth law firm in Sigil. Not to be outdone, the human party had captured a githyanki scout ship, "upgraded" it, enslaved a few hundred krinth (a race on the Plane of Shadow), and started making pirate raids on the elven empire.

By the end of the fourteenth session, the parties met up for massive battle between the turtle fortress and githyanki scout ship on the one side and a Star-Destroyer-esque flying adamantine devil fortress and a Ship of Chaos on the other, after which they led a raid into the Abyss to rescue one of their party members, then fought the leaders of the evil elves to the death in one of the BBEG's demiplanes, at which point one of them rose to demigodhood and had to be defeated by the combined might of the PCs and all of their allies thus far.

Total plotline planned out in advanced past session 1: 0%.

Improvise, improvise, improvise.

Sipex
2010-11-23, 04:59 PM
I would so totally play that.

Gnaritas
2010-11-23, 05:07 PM
Improvise and think on your feet.

<Awesomeness>

Total plotline planned out in advanced past session 1: 0%.

Improvise, improvise, improvise.

But not everyone (including me) can do this.
I need something worked out, partly because this is my first campaign as DM, partly because i only played one campaign as a player, partly because not every DM is as good as the next. It may work for you, it will not work as well for me.

PairO'Dice Lost
2010-11-23, 05:13 PM
But not everyone (including me) can do this.
I need something worked out, partly because this is my first campaign as DM, partly because i only played one campaign as a player, partly because not every DM is as good as the next. It may work for you, it will not work as well for me.

You might not be able to throw together a raiding party of half-golem slaad at a whim, but you can certainly adapt to PC actions. Figure out likely paths they'll take and plan accordingly, but then have a backup plan. You don't need to improvise everything, just have things prepared that can be easily adapted to anything the PCs try to do.

Let's say the party is trying to steal the crown jewels. After figuring out where they are, how they're protected, etc. (and you should probably have some generic maps ready that could become the vault, a guildhall, a tomb, or whatever), make up a force of fighters and sorcerers and keep them in reserve. If the PCs sneak in in a way you didn't anticipate, those are the elite guards to the royal vaults. If the PCs try to take a hostage to get out, those are the princess's bodyguards. If the PCs get in and out too easily and manage to evade pursuit, those are the thieves' guild's enforcers who want to get their hands on the jewels as well.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-11-23, 05:15 PM
Here's a question that I have. What happens when you hit writer's block in the middle of a campaign? Like, everything's chugging along, but then suddenly you're just plumb out of ideas for things the PCs can do until they're ready to go on to the ending?

Warlawk
2010-11-23, 05:19 PM
The players in our group tend to... well, ... uh... be a little random and insane in game. Things often go in COMPLETELY unexpected directions.

I am the backup DM. When our main DM needs a break I run something. The method I started using to write up adventures pretty much got adopted by him as well.

I start with my core ideas.

I want the players to meet [NPC X].
I want the players to have a fight with [ENCOUNTER X] in [COOL LOCATION A, B or C]
I want the players to deal with [OUTCOME Z]

Then I set up the region this is supposed to take place in. I never Never NEVER lay out anything concrete. [NPC X] can be found wherever he needs to be. When I think of an encounter I try to come up with a couple of different locations and then I can drop it in wherever the players roam to.

Basically I stat up a few core ideas, then familiarize myself with the region the players are in so that I can drop my ideas in regardless of where the players go. It keeps things a bit more organic as you fit your ideas into the world and the players go wherever they want. If they don't follow the path you had in mind, it just doesn't matter. Aside from your "Key Points" it is very free form and "fly by the seat of your pants". Some DMs really don't like it, but I think it makes for a great play experience.

Dr.Epic
2010-11-23, 05:21 PM
Usually I just pick the end boss or macguffin and build the adventure around that.

Tvtyrant
2010-11-23, 05:31 PM
I create a problem flow sheet that works like the following:


Stephen the Bold: 1. He has a sword in need of repair. He gives the party the sword and a bunch of adamant. If they get it repaired they can keep the extra adamant (they take alignment hits if they run off with it).

2. If by level 2 you didn't get around to helping him he ha his adamant stolen, and you need to track the thieves to their hideout and get it back.

3. If you didn't get around to the thieves by level 3 they now have adamant weapons and are taking over the local area.

4. If by level 4 the bandits haven't been defeated they take over the town and are setting up a corrupt government.

20. If by level 20 you still haven't dealt with the situation they now have an empire and are trying to conquer the world.

Tent Land:

1. Help them relocate in the face of a flood.

2. The flood killed many of them, and they live in a swamp.

7. Get taken over by a Naga that moves into the swamp.

20. Are attempting to poison the worlds water supply so they alone can survive.

WereWolf:

1. A single werewolf is losing his mind in the woods.

3. Go kill the werewolf, he has been eating people.

6. Several werewolves have made a pack in the woods.

15. The werewolf Lord has now began building an army of Wendigos, Lycanthropes and Wights to conquer the world.

20. The Lord of the Moon (same as the first werewolf if he has been allowed to live this long) is attempting to ascend to godhood at the next solar eclipse, and you have to interrupt the ceremony.



I create like 500 or more of these, so the party can never deal with all of them in a level. The progression is along with the party, and anytime they deal with one problem a problem somewhere else will spill over into the region they just saved. Your party can do almost anything they want, but they can never fix all of the problems in the world.

Archpaladin Zousha
2010-11-23, 05:33 PM
Usually I just pick the end boss or macguffin and build the adventure around that.

I mean, I can do this, but I've got to build an entire campaign around it.

It's a Dark Sun game, the PCs being a motley crew of folks from all over the place who got on the good side of some folks in power when they saved a well vital to Tyr's trade routes and saved the life of the ambassador of Balic (who's one of the PCs as well).

What I want is to end up getting caught up in Tithian's mad quest for power that results in them eventually trying to stop him from releasing Rajaat.

They're now going to the arena to be recognized by Tithian as heroes to the city, and I know I want it to end in a massive battle royale atop whatever Tower they used to seal Rajaat or something, but I've got no flipping clue of how do get from the beginning, as lowly level 1 characters, to the end as world-shaking level 30 badasses.

valadil
2010-11-23, 06:16 PM
But not everyone (including me) can do this [improvise].
I need something worked out, partly because this is my first campaign as DM, partly because i only played one campaign as a player, partly because not every DM is as good as the next. It may work for you, it will not work as well for me.

As you GM you'll learn what you can and can't improvise. I can do speech, so I don't need to take detailed notes on what NPCs say. But I can't do description. If I don't want every city looking alike I have to write out a couple sentences of what the place looks, sounds, and smells like. The more you run games, the more you'll learn what to prep and what you can pull out of your rear.


Here's a question that I have. What happens when you hit writer's block in the middle of a campaign? Like, everything's chugging along, but then suddenly you're just plumb out of ideas for things the PCs can do until they're ready to go on to the ending?

This is why I keep an idea file. I've got a google document just for game ideas. Any time I think of something that would be interesting in a game, I dump it here. Usually it'll be a plot, but NPCs, dungeons, and puzzles all go there as well. If I'm coming up with a blank for the next session, I pull something from the idea file. The trick is that I'm always adding to it. I may go 2-3 years between games. This means I'll have several pages of ideas I can steal later.

This is also why I use backstory. If I don't know where my plot is going, I'll pull up some element from a PC backstory. Throw that out there and see what happens. The great thing about this, is that the player who created the plot will immediately be enthused to play it.

Finally, I also like to write game endings in advance. Sometimes it's not a question of writer's block but simply running out of steam. If I have a good idea of where the game can end, I can use that idea that I've already conceived as soon as I run out of energy. Running a half written scenario is easier than having to write all the time. Because of this technique I've never dropped a game mid campaign. They've all had concrete, interesting endings. Maybe my games run shorter than others, but at least they end instead of slowly disintegrating.

nedz
2010-11-23, 06:44 PM
I currently have it quite easy. Previously I've run a sandbox, but for the current campaign the players wanted to have a mission based game simply because they kept forgetting all the threads of the longer plot arcs.

In the current game, they are all members of a recon unit and the Army gives them jobsmissions. So I just have to link the missions together into the armies grand strategy. This also allows some DM rotation as people can easily run a side mission, which means I also get to play.

So to design a Mission:
I have a peice of terrain the army wish to scout before attacking. And then I have to think up some denizens, work out how they make a living, how they defend themselves, and who their neighbours are. Kind of like a modular sandbox, well I've always done this.

I throw in some "random" encounters for variety or to represent the regional flaura/fauna/features/etc.

I find the Crystal Keep list of Monsters by Environment, and CR, invaluable for both the random stuff, and the choice of denizens. EXCELLENT resource this. If it didn't exist, I would have to write one.:smallsmile:

I often introduce some unexpected element, like a recent excursion to the Abyss. This is good for challanging the prepared casters.


Here's a question that I have. What happens when you hit writer's block in the middle of a campaign? Like, everything's chugging along, but then suddenly you're just plumb out of ideas for things the PCs can do until they're ready to go on to the ending?

Which is where I am at the moment.
Thankfully someone else is running a side mission and so I have the luxury of time.
What I'm currently doing is going over my maps, monster lists, etc.
I have several ideas, but none of them have grabbed me so far.
One thing I haven't tried yet is going through my library and choosing a couple of books I want to fuze into a concept.
Another thing to do is to go away and do something different; coming at this afresh will help.

Trog
2010-11-24, 01:37 PM
Question on the title?

How do you start? do you write the expected course of events? do you stat up the enemies you want your players to face? map the dungeons, roads, whatever?

Just curious, and hoping to get some pointers.
Note: I now play 4e but this applies to previous editions too, really.

I start with the PC level. From there I look through the available creatures for the next five levels or so (starting about a level or two above the PCs level works best for my group) to see what sort of foes there might be to battle and what might make some good encounters. I come up with a general grouping of enemies (undead, demons, fey, etc.). Now I have a loose grouping of specific types of monsters that will appear in the campaign.

Next I consider the setting. Mountains or desert or forest or city or what have you. Often a combination of two or three as the adventure progresses. I consider how the monsters fit in the setting and why they would be there.

From here I generate the Big Bad Evil Guy and his organization. Who he/they are and what they want? Who would be leading these creatures/people? I develop the Big Problem for the PCs to solve and what the BBEG's mission is and what he is doing to advance his goals throughout the adventure.

From here I might make up a setting to meet these goals because oftentimes my ideas don't fit well into existing campaign settings which are already so detailed out and don't necessarily have a good spot for the idea generated thus far.

Details on how I accomplish this and my other adventure guidelines in a reasonably concise post here (http://trogshead.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-dnd-adventure-design-guidelines.html).

Sipex
2010-11-24, 02:08 PM
Note: I now play 4e but this applies to previous editions too, really.

I start with the PC level. From there I look through the available creatures for the next five levels or so (starting about a level or two above the PCs level works best for my group) to see what sort of foes there might be to battle and what might make some good encounters.

I'm not the only one who does this!

It's just so easy, the MM has the monsters so nicely indexed by level already.

nedz
2010-11-24, 02:21 PM
I'm not the only one who does this!

It's just so easy, the MM has the monsters so nicely indexed by level already.

No I do this too, I just focus my choices on the terrain types I plan to use first.

Dust
2010-11-24, 02:28 PM
I decide on the genre/flavor of the game I want to run, then imagine an endpoint. Everything in between is designed to suit my players.

Current 4e campaign, I imagined a gritty, harsh Dark-Sun-esque world. I thought it would be cool if the PCs had a way to advance to godhood through artifacts, and imagined a race against the BBEGs to delve into the forgotten places of the world and search these artifacts out. From there the 'God Fragments' took a life of their own, and the three kingdoms teetering on the brink of war - and the ways each of the PCs had tied to being nobility in each of the three kingdoms, and so on. It's really quite easy as soon as you get the ball rolling.

Trog
2010-11-25, 12:02 AM
I'm not the only one who does this!

It's just so easy, the MM has the monsters so nicely indexed by level already.
In 4e it gets even easier if you have a DnD Insider subscription. The tool they have in there lets you enter in the level parameters and the keywords and roles and such to be able to see what you have to work with. It has all the Monster Manuals together plus just about every other published book or article. It's slick.

It also sort of reveals certain limitations for 4e monsters published so far. There's still plenty of gaps to be filled for different types of monsters at different levels. And even certain areas that have a lot of choices lack a little, shall we say, variety of foes to choose from.

You can always home brew all your own foes, of course, and more power to ya. But for a DM on a bit more of a time constraint this method works well.

Remmirath
2010-11-25, 12:51 AM
In a rather disorganised way.

First, I think of the general plot, in a very basic fashion. If I already have a particular goal in mind, that probably counts (such as 'stop a war between two countries' or 'destroy this here demi-god').

Next, if I've already ran a campaign in the same world I check to see if I have any NPCs and locations already that would make sense to use for this. If so, I flesh them out to whatever extent is needed. If not, I write new ones.

After that, I write the outline of the story. I usually write it sort of by acts and then scenes within that, with scribbled-in alternates if I think there's another way it might go. After I'm done with that, I get to writing the whole thing - description, monsters, NPC stats, the amount of XP the monsters and NPCs and quests are all worth, unique treasure/magical items, and any bits and pieces of dialogue that I want to get exactly right (although I'm trying to go more towards improvising that. Feels more natural). I work on that sporadically, jumping between various areas until I'm done.

Once all that's done, I do anything like drawing maps, cutting out notes, what have you and look over the whole thing to make sure there aren't any gaping errors. At this point I usually start to think 'man, this campaign will suck' and then I quickly call it done so I don't scrap it.

If/when I encounter something I didn't plan for, I improvise like crazy.