Jacob.Tyr
2013-07-31, 11:34 AM
So, my DM'ing style has always veered closer to improv than actually planned. I prefer to give my players the ability to do just about anything, and mostly only have a few rough ideas of areas ahead of time. I tend to throw together a few generic encounters and areas, reskin/fluff them for what the players are doing when I need to use something. Add a world on top of it, some ideas of how the world interacts, and cut loose. The results vary...
Anyway I was hoping to try a campaign with practically zero prep beyond generic unskinned areas and encounters. There will be:
No world map
No city Maps (they will start in an alley in a poor portion of one city)
No defined race makeups (The only definite will be the ones the PCs start as)
No defined plot (player backgrounds will hopefully throw some of this into the game)
The idea will be that players can essentially "create" the world as they go along. Some of them are fairly veteran players, and are all WAY more into the Role part of roleplaying than I have ever been. I'm wondering if they can actually pull a story out of: "You are in an alley, you do not have your weapons and armor on you. There are 4 other people in the alley with you, dressed in various street-clothes."
They will be able to declare why they are in the city, creating aspects of the city as they go along. "I'm here to see the king about XYZ" establishes that the city is ruled by a monarchy, and that XYZ has occurred. Visiting the local mages academy to study in the library? The city now has a mage academy with a library.
High knowledge checks will create the information, relying on the players to make up facts on the fly. Fighting a creature? A low knowledge roll might let you name what it is. A higher one will let you know what it is weak against. None of these will be decided beforehand, essentially.
In the absence of knowledge skills, I intend to let the players roleplay having experience. The fighter recognizes the creature coming after them as a minotaur, and knows that they can be easily shaken if you stamp your feet loud enough. This will be a limited power, some number of times per session perhaps.
My question for you, then, is how can I make something like this easier to transition into? How can I make the power inherent in deciding the world be balanced? Has anyone attempted something this freeform before, and has it worked out?
Anyway I was hoping to try a campaign with practically zero prep beyond generic unskinned areas and encounters. There will be:
No world map
No city Maps (they will start in an alley in a poor portion of one city)
No defined race makeups (The only definite will be the ones the PCs start as)
No defined plot (player backgrounds will hopefully throw some of this into the game)
The idea will be that players can essentially "create" the world as they go along. Some of them are fairly veteran players, and are all WAY more into the Role part of roleplaying than I have ever been. I'm wondering if they can actually pull a story out of: "You are in an alley, you do not have your weapons and armor on you. There are 4 other people in the alley with you, dressed in various street-clothes."
They will be able to declare why they are in the city, creating aspects of the city as they go along. "I'm here to see the king about XYZ" establishes that the city is ruled by a monarchy, and that XYZ has occurred. Visiting the local mages academy to study in the library? The city now has a mage academy with a library.
High knowledge checks will create the information, relying on the players to make up facts on the fly. Fighting a creature? A low knowledge roll might let you name what it is. A higher one will let you know what it is weak against. None of these will be decided beforehand, essentially.
In the absence of knowledge skills, I intend to let the players roleplay having experience. The fighter recognizes the creature coming after them as a minotaur, and knows that they can be easily shaken if you stamp your feet loud enough. This will be a limited power, some number of times per session perhaps.
My question for you, then, is how can I make something like this easier to transition into? How can I make the power inherent in deciding the world be balanced? Has anyone attempted something this freeform before, and has it worked out?