DM Life Hacks

[Theobod]

So it occurs to me that there is always plenty left to learn as a DM, and as inspired by another thread i am intrigued to learn of the playgrounds personal favorite 'life hacks' for DMing, be it sneaky tricks or clever bookkeeping techniques, doesn't matter, if it makes life easier post it here.

To start, my own quote from the other thread:


One trick I like to use for big single bosses is two HP bars, one the average and another the difference between the average and the maximum.
If the party are really struggling and its getting close to the wire have him go down after the first bar (average hp), if there is still a lot of fight in the party and it's looking like a curbstomp use that max hp buffer either to deal more pain or run away.
Gives more wiggle room without breaking a single rule.

[WesleyVos]

For me, the biggest life hack I learned is that Roll20 is your friend.

Whatever kind of game I'm running, I keep track of everything in a Roll20 game. It lets me track movement, hp for everybody, character sheets, bonuses, etc., without a pile of notes next to me. I'm sure there are other software options out there that do this, but I haven't found another good one yet.

For world building, there is Realm Works. Costs a chunk of money, but if you put the time in to learn it and build your world, it helps tremendously in keeping track of things.

[Swaoeaeieu]

post it's
post it's everywhere! on my maps, on the side of notes, next to creature stats. my notebook is by now 50% post it's. i use it to keep track of loot, adventure hints i did/did not give. What happend to what npc. I have learned that if not the mentioned Roll20, post its are my friend when i dm.

Also i stopped preparing, or trying to prepare for what i think the players will do. now i just create an area, give them a few plot hooks and watch as they pave their own way through my map. Less stress, more amusement.

But good one with the HP bars. always a shame if well prepared bosses go to quickly

[Theobod]

post it's
post it's everywhere! on my maps, on the side of notes, next to creature stats. my notebook is by now 50% post it's. i use it to keep track of loot, adventure hints i did/did not give. What happend to what npc. I have learned that if not the mentioned Roll20, post its are my friend when i dm.

Also i stopped preparing, or trying to prepare for what i think the players will do. now i just create an area, give them a few plot hooks and watch as they pave their own way through my map. Less stress, more amusement.

But good one with the HP bars. always a shame if well prepared bosses go to quickly

Got to concur with the second point:
A long time ago I stopped writing Plots, instead favoring writing Scenarios, for example:

The party are told of a threat in the Hell Hole of High Hold and travel there, fighting an Athak en route, then getting supplies from town they plumb the dungeon and fight hordes of Infernal Ogres to the depths where they fight an Infernal Adult Red Dragon and his two Infernal Half Dragon Ogre cohorts.

An Infernal Adult Red Dragon has lead his army via the subterrain into the High Hold Plague Pits and has hollowed out the area intent to sieze the castle and take over the reign, Local giants have fled the surroundings and are beseeching local townsteads for help. The Dragon has two half Dragon cohorts and fifteen Infernal Ogres at his command and has already made several barricades and stopping points in the tunnels, sending up night raids to reinstate the plague.

Just the two minutes needed to type out the scenario rather than a linear plot has inspired motivation, scene dressing and other points that come from the 'villain first' approach to Scenario Design.

[Darth Ultron]

[QUOTE=Theobod;21201376]
A long time ago I stopped writing Plots, instead favoring writing Scenarios, for example:

QUOTE]

I know this is all vogue right now to say ''I'm a DM that does not write plots'', but can I ask how this works? Ok, so you write down that paragraph...and then just show up for the game with nothing else? So everyone sits down at the table, I guess you tell them your paragraph, and then what?


Hacks:

*Premade cards-Make tons of monsters, NPCs, characters, items, encounters, hazards and any other such thing. You want to have a bunch of each ready to go at a moment notice. A bunch of really basic ones are great like a ''3rd level human archer'' or a ''orc guard encounter'' that you can use anywhere. Even better it is much easier and quicker in the game to make a ''3rd level human archer'' in to ''whatever special archer'' you might need.

*Side Treks-small adventures that are simple and straightforward and generic. You should always have a couple. They are great to drop in as needed.

*Allow no questions, discussions, arguments or such at the table. Save them for after.

[Theobod]

I know this is all vogue right now to say ''I'm a DM that does not write plots'', but can I ask how this works? Ok, so you write down that paragraph...and then just show up for the game with nothing else? So everyone sits down at the table, I guess you tell them your paragraph, and then what?


Simple, I follow the train of logic to its natural conclusion, including the various ways a party might hear of it, usually a session or so in advance, if by natural conclusion they don't have any means to currently know of it or find out i leave it unstatted on the back burners and let it run its course, thinking up another or two. If there are plenty of ways for the PCs to find out I stat up the monsters and a few potential allies and then run with it from there.

That said I usually, when not using a premade module, run a sandbox so I am used to improv a lot and to doing a lot of worldbuilding my party may or may not see, I only stat up what seems likely to be encountered and even then only if it is non generic, instead just citing a book and page reference.

Thus I have a lot of stuff going on in the background and limit my bookkeeping to the few immutable details my parties may encounter and refer back to my 'train of thought paragraph' to determine what is where and when for terms of what they encounter where.

In response to that last one:
I also have a no table arguments rule, I used to have a lot of them so I decided to just nix it then, stating that I would make rulings as I saw fit during play and that unless they can convince me otherwise in a sixty second spiel the ruling stands, no ifs or buts, AFTER the session they are welcome to write me a treatise (we usually converse digitally outside game) that I will research and consider thoroughly, then I will either make or restate a ruling to be final, end of story. This will never allow for Retcon of any aspect of a session already played.
It has massively improved my games pacing and enjoyment.

[Telonius]

Have a 7-year-old daughter that helps out. So far she's built Lego trees, walls, and fortifications for several different sessions. Last time when we asked her to bring us some of the larger minis, she brought over a couple of My Little Ponies (to represent undead abominations - and she did get that they were supposed to be horrible zombie monsters). The whole table thought it was awesome, and of course the Ponies of Doom were the most dangerous foes on the battlefield.

Otherwise? Pre-rolls. Have a list of numbers you check off.

[lytokk]

I've taken the time to write out any monster/baddie that the party is going to face that day on an index card instead of flipping through the monster manual just to find the creature. Usually the basic things, like HP, AC, saves, BA, usually not messing with skills unless its likely going to come up, like a goblin worg rider with mounted combat, and the ride skill. Though I do usually put the card in my MM on the page where the creature is in case I need more detailed information. But most times I can get by with just the card.

Another index card thing is to have one for each PC and location the PCs will visit. Keeping track of things like relations, important NPCs, goals and such. Its really helped out, rather than flipping through pages of notes trying to figure out the one guy they met that one time that they're trying to find and talk to because he might know something. Also I write down some clues to the voice I was imitating at the time I last used him.

[Telok]

A limited palette and a highlighter.
I pretty much limit a setting or major area to about 20 - 30 monsters. Write a compacted stat block including relevant spell text for SLAs and such in a text editor and print the five to ten pages. Then go through with a highlighter and mark ac, saves, main attack, special attacks of defenses.

It's my per-campaign mini monster manual.

[Darth Ultron]

Simple, I follow the train of logic to its natural conclusion,.

So you have a plot. Ok, got it. So you say you don't have a plot, but do.


More Hacks-

*You need to read the players and give them..more or less..what they want, but avoid asking them what they want. Most people don't know what they want or will simply lie or tell a half truth when asked, but they can't avoid being read.

*Keep a up to date copy of each PC.

*Write everything down.

[ComaVision]

I keep all my notes and info in a Google Drive Sheet. I can update it from any computer I'm at (or my phone) and it's easy to click to the tab for the town they're in or the tab for the monsters in that area.

[Jay R]

I recommend a single Excel sheet with each PC's saves, stats, AC, adjusted BAB with his or her three most common weapons, and any other stats you regularly refer to. Print it and have it taped to a nearby wall.

[Elkad]

Initiative board.

Magnetic vinyl strips with character names on it.

Easy for everyone to look and see who is next, and if someone wants to hold an action or something, just move their marker to the new spot.

The "tree" with labeled clothespins on it works too.


More monitors. My "DM screen" is 3 monitors, plus the one facing the other way I can flip graphics onto for my players to see.

[nedz]

I know this is all vogue right now to say ''I'm a DM that does not write plots'', but can I ask how this works? Ok, so you write down that paragraph...and then just show up for the game with nothing else? So everyone sits down at the table, I guess you tell them your paragraph, and then what?

Vogue ?

I've been DMing since the 70's and I gave up writing plots a very long time ago. I create organisations, and NPCs, now these have objectives (goals and desires) but the plot comes about when several of these entities interact — ideally with the party.

Hacks:
Improvise everything smaller than 10 miles across. A player recently complimented my on the detail of my setting — but the detail was all improvised.

[Extra Anchovies]

Keep a list of named NPCs on hand, and I mean every named NPC. It's impossible to predict which NPCs will be forever remembered by the players and which will be immediately forgotten, and the ones that turn out to be memorable are a valuable and often scarce resource.

[Darth Ultron]

Vogue ?

I've been DMing since the 70's and I gave up writing plots a very long time ago. I create organisations, and NPCs, now these have objectives (goals and desires) but the plot comes about when several of these entities interact — ideally with the party.

.

Right, but the only way you can explain this wondrous non-plot way of doing things is with it sounding and being exactly like a normal plotted adventure, except your just using another word for ''plot''. Like the way you say you..er...''give life'' to an NPC and then you the DM decide that (plot) related thing they will do based off (the plot) and the (plotted) ''goals and desires'' of the NPC(that are amazingling coming from a DM plotting an adventure and saying he is not plotting and adventure and the NPC..is.um...talking to him?)

[Thurbane]

The little plastic thingies that come in pizzas make decent markers to show a miniature is flying or levitating.

http://i67.tinypic.com/21d305c.jpg

Play Doh can easily be moulded into dungeon terrain or other features.

[Theobod]

My dictionary states a Plot (Noun) to be:
The main events of a play, novel, film, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence.

So I can see where there is overlap, but there is no need to get up in arms about the use of a word, as distinct from another, used to try and detail another way of going about things, even if there are aspects to each that are related. The point is clearly that rather than stringing together the expected actions of the PCs into the overall plot or story of the adventure, all the groundwork for whats happening in the background is identical but you, as a DM, make no expectations for what the PCs might do about it or in what way, instead spending that extra effort fleshing out the background and NPCs etc so you are more ready for curveballs.

Off topic discussion aside:

Schrodinger's Backup:
The party may or may not know how many forces they are to expect, they may only have a general idea, however even if the party know exactly how many of what to expect (for instance a thirty man unit has gone AWOL from the army and holed up in a dugout) they do not (usually) know exactly how many of what is where, as such I tend to have only a few placed individuals in certain places as default (ie when working or on duty), the rest acting like 'cover staff' so I can feel for the party's prowess in the opening foray and have more or less extra units as necessary.
For instance in the above example: A four man rotation is always at the entrance in n the main chamber stand two guards, the captain spends his day in the largest chamber with eight other men and the smithy always works in a small side chamber with a natural opening into the woods for ventilation. The other fourteen men can be wherever they are needed for drama and challenge, as common sense dictates, based on how/when the party assail the position.

[CharonsHelper]

Right, but the only way you can explain this wondrous non-plot way of doing things is with it sounding and being exactly like a normal plotted adventure, except your just using another word for ''plot''.

I think that it's just a matter of terminology.

There is eventually a plot, but they never did any plotting beforehand.

I know that even when writing a novel not everyone uses plotting. (In Stephen King's book On Writing he is totally against plotting though he has used it before, but I think that it varies by genre, and his is one where plotting is usually sub-par. A whodunit pretty much has to be plotted.)

[DirePorkChop]

Arts and Crafts.
Use your imagination and creative juices to create terrain pieces like trees, and boulders, and other terrain pieces. Even if it is just grabbing a rock from outside to use as the deathwail cliffs, or gluing a couple of barren twigs to a base to simulate a copse of deciduous trees in a tundra environment. Simple things like this always add to the game experience in my opinion. Even more so if you draw everything else on the maps, as it highlights that these trees, or cliff are the most pronounced object in the region. Your local arts and crafts store will have a bunch of cool things to use. We have Michaels here in VA, and I just walk through the aisles looking at things and thinking about all the ways to use them. They have great coupons, as well as the fact that they almost always have a sale or deal going on.

Keep a Campaign Notebook.
I always purchase a very distinct notebook from Barnes & Noble to use for my campaign journals. The most recent one that I bought was a leather bound journal with the House Targaryen Hydragon on the front. I keep everything in my notebook. When I say that I keep everything, I Mean maps I have drawn, character backstories from my players (more on that later), ninja notes that I get from the players. I keep Everything. You never know what may be important later on.

Make your players write backstories.
Well, you cannot "make" them, but I usually offer extra experience to my players who do. If the campaign is starting at lower levels (as mine usually do), they get xp comparable to the amount of effort and thought put into their backstory. I have given players an additional level in the past, because of their backstories. This also tends to get your players more excited about their characters, and (with some of my players) gets them to look past numbers on a sheet, and realize that everyone gets to role-play the character they are supposed to be playing.

[BowStreetRunner]

NPC pictures: I find pictures around the web that I use to represent various NPCs. So if they see someone across the room I hold up the image and say "you see this person across the room". If the Player doesn't remember but thinks the character should, I may allow them an INT roll to recall the identity of the NPC. But the real advantage of this system is that players (and DMs) seem to be able to keep track of a large number of NPCs better if they don't just have names and verbal descriptions. It really saves me time if every time I bring back a character they previously encountered there doesn't have to be a big discussion trying to recall which person this is. I also occasionally find pictures to use for items and locations as well, for the same reasons.

Pre-rolls: I have each player make a series of d20 rolls and write them down in order. Then, whenever I need to make a secret check (so as not to tip them off as to what might be going on) I use these and cross them off as I go. But seriously, Take-10 is heavily emphasized in my campaigns. I use the most generous interpretation of the Take-10 and Take-20 rules that I can to cut down on wasted time. In fact, I have a fact-sheet made up for villages, towns, and cities with the basic services available, base prices, and DCs of various checks. Players can just go through the sheet and handle a lot of the maintenance stuff using Take-10 and we only role play the situations that aren't covered. Need to replenish your supply of arrows and healing potions? It's on the sheet. Looking to custom-order a special magic item? We'll role-play that interaction.

[martixy]

NPC pictures: I find pictures around the web that I use to represent various NPCs. So if they see someone across the room I hold up the image and say "you see this person across the room". If the Player doesn't remember but thinks the character should, I may allow them an INT roll to recall the identity of the NPC. But the real advantage of this system is that players (and DMs) seem to be able to keep track of a large number of NPCs better if they don't just have names and verbal descriptions. It really saves me time if every time I bring back a character they previously encountered there doesn't have to be a big discussion trying to recall which person this is. I also occasionally find pictures to use for items and locations as well, for the same reasons.

Pre-rolls: I have each player make a series of d20 rolls and write them down in order. Then, whenever I need to make a secret check (so as not to tip them off as to what might be going on) I use these and cross them off as I go. But seriously, Take-10 is heavily emphasized in my campaigns. I use the most generous interpretation of the Take-10 and Take-20 rules that I can to cut down on wasted time. In fact, I have a fact-sheet made up for villages, towns, and cities with the basic services available, base prices, and DCs of various checks. Players can just go through the sheet and handle a lot of the maintenance stuff using Take-10 and we only role play the situations that aren't covered. Need to replenish your supply of arrows and healing potions? It's on the sheet. Looking to custom-order a special magic item? We'll role-play that interaction.

I have a large folder and I regularly save things I encounter along the web.

And not just NPCs mind you, I also do environments and items(though those are a rather small portion, mostly cuz nobody draws those, unless they're getting paid for it).

There's threads floating here(like for example this one (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?350310-Dungeons-and-Dreamboats-VI-Because-Breasts-It-s-not-complex)) + deviantArt + just plain old google. I must have collected more than 10K images in all 3 categories. Finding specific things afterwards is another matter entirely though... Unless you keep notes or metadata, it ain't happening.

The second one is a good idea, but needs further refinement.
I'd also include the steps of randomizing the order after collecting the sequences, just because humans tend to be very good with patterns and your players are likely to remember the order of at least a few of the rolls. Even between sessions!


The thing is... most of these lifehacks here are just (or at least should be) standard DMing practices.
Stuff like writing everything down(if not during, then after the session). Having an organizational system for your notes helps.
[I use a programming editor that can create projects and search everywhere in the project. It also helps with formatting your text. I also have excel tables with the anything relevant, I'm likely to use more than once. So things like WBL, a stat-roller sheet, a critical hit deck sheet.]
Or having access to your PCs sheets.
Or the whole "plots" thing.
It's mostly just about being an experienced DM. Everyone arrives at that method of organizing narrative eventually, by necessity. (At least those genuinely strive to improve as a DM, people with an agenda, or who are stupid or a-holes are not covered here.)

What I can attest is a good real DM lifehack is using Roll20 - even in real-life scenarios. Especially in RL scenarios.

[Darth Ultron]

Arts and Crafts.
.

''Official'' Role Playing miniature items can be very expensive....even more so at the specially shops. But don't forget about the Arts and Crafts stores. Darice, Jo-ann's and Hobby Lobby are great places to go an find miniature items. You can find tons of cheap ''generic'' ones like rocks and trees and animals. And you even might find the ''castle and kings'' line too. The stores also have a lot of sales and other discounts.

Also don't forget any ''real'' science store you might have nearby...the place that sells real science related items. They will have a good selection of authentic miniature animals, bugs, plants and other such things.

Also model train stores and aquarium stores. Both have sales too. A lot of aquarium stuff works great for ''other worlds/planes''.

And always check out the toy aisle at any store too, and you might find something of use. The old, run down K-marts, and other such stores with poorly lit messes of shelves and boxes in a far back corner can have some great finds some times.

[dascarletm]

One thing I find useful, is before using a monster I check its attack bonuses/save DCs/AC/save bonuses against the party's AC/save bonuses/attack bonus/save DCs. I then see what % of the time the party is expected to hit the monster etc.

[LudicSavant]

- I write up setting lore, NPC bios, etc categorized by knowledge DCs in the first place. This means I tend to immediately have consistently informative answers whenever players make knowledge checks rather than making them wait.

- I write down useful names that I come up with or encounter in a Google Doc. Over time it has grown. It now is 43 pages long of useful names that I can mix and match for persons, places, titles, whatever, in a wide variety of linguistic styles. People ask me how I'm good at naming things in RPGs, and this is part of it.

- Using private wikis allows you to keep track of all of your campaign notes in a very fast and convenient way, from PC stats to NPC or area descriptions and so forth.

[Ualaa]

I'm using and loving Hero Lab, although another digital medium might be preferred by others.
I have each of the campaigns I run, as it's own folder, with each of the NPCs or Encounters saved.
I can search for a given NPC, even if (s)he was from a previous campaign, by typing their name in the root directory of the campaigns (search field).

Saving the whole thing onto DropBox has helped too.
I no longer need to worry about syncing the game day laptop with the at-home desktop.

[TheCrowing1432]

I have a few templates when I want to create npcs on the fly.


Big Dumb Strong guy
Full BAB
High STR and CON
Good Fort.


Skill Guy
3/4 Bab
High Dex
Good Reflex
Skills

Mage
High Int/Cha
"Common" Spells (Color Spray, Grease, Magic Missle, etc)

[Jay R]

Just to confuse the "plot definition" sub-thread a little more, I will point out that the Greek word for "plot", as used in Aristotle's Poetics (from which we get our first careful description of how to create a story), was "mythos".

[trikkydik]

This hack only applies to games with PC's who have inflated stats, gestalted, or super PC's who can do almost everything.

~Enemy encounters don't even have HP. I just write down how much damage they've taken and decide if the encounter has served its purpose, or needs to cause more chaos.

~I DONT TRACK ANYTHING, my games are way too fast paced for that. Let the PC's track their stuff, then trying to cheat you is another fun part of the game, and you can penalize them when you uncover their lie.
~Why write stuff down when your PC's aren't doing anything anyway.

~ I rarely state the Number value of any DC check. I see what the natural roll is, consider the modifiers, and make a decision. This makes encounters so much easier to create.

~ For inspiration, I take literally any monster/character I see from video games/movies/comics. And if I want to use them, I just do. Last session my campaign had to fight a bunch of street fighter characters. With M Bison and Akuma as the end bosses.

Those hacks only work in a campaign that is either epic, near, or going towards epic level.

[martixy]

~Enemy encounters don't even have HP. I just write down how much damage they've taken and decide if the encounter has served its purpose, or needs to cause more chaos.

~I DONT TRACK ANYTHING, my games are way too fast paced for that. Let the PC's track their stuff, then trying to cheat you is another fun part of the game, and you can penalize them when you uncover their lie.

~ I rarely state the Number value of any DC check. I see what the natural roll is, consider the modifiers, and make a decision. This makes encounters so much easier to create.

Oblivion all over again...

This might work, but you sure as hell better make sure your players never find out about it(which might be difficult if they're smart and/or observant), because for many people this destroys the enjoyment of the game.

[Name1]

This hack only applies to games with PC's who have inflated stats, gestalted, or super PC's who can do almost everything.

~Enemy encounters don't even have HP. I just write down how much damage they've taken and decide if the encounter has served its purpose, or needs to cause more chaos.

~I DONT TRACK ANYTHING, my games are way too fast paced for that. Let the PC's track their stuff, then trying to cheat you is another fun part of the game, and you can penalize them when you uncover their lie.
~Why write stuff down when your PC's aren't doing anything anyway.

~ I rarely state the Number value of any DC check. I see what the natural roll is, consider the modifiers, and make a decision. This makes encounters so much easier to create.

~ For inspiration, I take literally any monster/character I see from video games/movies/comics. And if I want to use them, I just do. Last session my campaign had to fight a bunch of street fighter characters. With M Bison and Akuma as the end bosses.

Those hacks only work in a campaign that is either epic, near, or going towards epic level.

Honestly, that's the way I run my current campaign where everyone is about equivalent to a Level 5 Mundane (well, everything minus the HP thing).

~I don't track anything because this party is a major case of chaotic stupid and they rarely work together anyway. If I tried to keep track of it, I'd have a few thousand notes of stuff I won't understand because their thought process totally baffles me.

~I don't bother writing stuff down because in all honesty, the only thing it would encourage in THIS party would be more attempts to derail it. I'm already doing overtime to make any sort of maps (because they go to 5 different new towns every session just so I have to make more), so the worldbuilding suffers from that enough already.

~There are two scenarios when it comes to DCs: They can either roll them without any realistic chance of messing up or they can't hit them at all. Everyone has a specific set of skills (sometimes even crossclass) and can't do anything outside of them and they don't have all bases covered... so yeah, this right here prevented a lot of TPKs.

It works ok so far... even if roll20 is unncessarily antagonistic towards background-maps...

[Jay R]

Make your players write backstories.
Well, you cannot "make" them, but I usually offer extra experience to my players who do. If the campaign is starting at lower levels (as mine usually do), they get xp comparable to the amount of effort and thought put into their backstory. I have given players an additional level in the past, because of their backstories. This also tends to get your players more excited about their characters, and (with some of my players) gets them to look past numbers on a sheet, and realize that everyone gets to role-play the character they are supposed to be playing.

I will never give out xps for it, because in general, the ones who write good backstories are the same players who get most of the bonus xps anyway.

I will use their backstories as plot points, which winds up giving them advantages anyway, from being on center stage, to being recognized by the old family retainer, to being the obvious owner of the silver found with the family crest engraved on it.

I also stopped encouraging back-stories from people with no interest in them. I have one player whose basic back story is "I'm a fighter who likes to hit things."

I once insisted on at least a paragraph, and it came out something like this: "Forlong grew up watching the fighters at practice, and always wanted to join them. He considers his sword his closest friend, and always takes care of it. He's now looking for opportunities to use his fighting skills to help people."

I'm sure that if I pushed him to do it, he could write five pages of back-story that boil down to "I'm a fighter who likes to hit things."

[martixy]

I will never give out xps for it, because in general, the ones who write good backstories are the same players who get most of the bonus xps anyway.

I will use their backstories as plot points, which winds up giving them advantages anyway, from being on center stage, to being recognized by the old family retainer, to being the obvious owner of the silver found with the family crest engraved on it.

I also stopped encouraging back-stories from people with no interest in them. I have one player whose basic back story is "I'm a fighter who likes to hit things."

I once insisted on at least a paragraph, and it came out something like this: "Forlong grew up watching the fighters at practice, and always wanted to join them. He considers his sword his closest friend, and always takes care of it. He's now looking for opportunities to use his fighting skills to help people."

I'm sure that if I pushed him to do it, he could write five pages of back-story that boil down to "I'm a fighter who likes to hit things."

This reminds me... I encourage backstories for all players, but do not require it.
...unless you want to take a 0-LA template. You buy those with a relevant backstory.

[NerdHut]

I also stopped encouraging back-stories from people with no interest in them. I have one player whose basic back story is "I'm a fighter who likes to hit things."
My life hack is if you want player backstories, give them prompts to build from.

For my latest campaign, I require backstories. But I guided the process for the couple players who have trouble with the actual role-playing portion of the game. Instead of saying, "Write at least three paragraphs," I gave each player a short list of questions to answer, and anything beyond that was icing on the cake.

The questions were pretty basic:
What's your hometown? (I use a homebrew setting, so they can default to the town they're in, or invent their own town.)
How did your character grow up? (Loving parents, terrible orphanage, free-love hippie tribe of centaurs, whatever)
Is your character religious? (can just be a brief "no" or include a specific god to worship)
Why does your character want to be an adventurer?

I thought the prompts might get blown off, but it actually prompted some well-rounded characters. Two players usually make "Stat-sheets with faces" as I call them. By that, I mean they are defined entirely by numbers, and lack a personality. Now, their characters can be described, and you can know what they're like. They're people, and their class levels are only a part of that.
One is an affluent Grey Elf from the oldest part of town. He is highly educated, kind and searches for knowledge and fulfillment.
The other is a human raised in the docks district, begging to survive the entire time. As an adult, he has sworn a vow of poverty and all the spoils of his adventures are dispersed into the community he calls home so that they need not struggle the way he did.

[Soranar]

I use an old school HD CRT tv as a table (I made a wooden frame for it to hold screen up). I plug in my laptop on it (which I also use as a DM screen with multiple tabs to switch to each situation I encounter).

I'm sure you could use a normal LCD screen with a glass cover but my tv is basically indestructable so I'm not too worried about using it as a table.


I use the screen as a map, you just take any old JPEG map with a hexagonal grid (or square, I just prefer hexes) on it and you size them up to fit your miniatures, saves a lot of time when your players travel a lot (especially if they have access to teleport or planar travel).

[Thealtruistorc]

One that I've learned recently is to make a map and give your players access to it. Having them plan around what cities or locales they are going to and being there to see them do it makes encounter design and overall adventure design much easier.

[trikkydik]

Honestly, that's the way I run my current campaign where everyone is about equivalent to a Level 5 Mundane (well, everything minus the HP thing).

~I don't track anything because this party is a major case of chaotic stupid and they rarely work together anyway. If I tried to keep track of it, I'd have a few thousand notes of stuff I won't understand because their thought process totally baffles me.

~I don't bother writing stuff down because in all honesty, the only thing it would encourage in THIS party would be more attempts to derail it. I'm already doing overtime to make any sort of maps (because they go to 5 different new towns every session just so I have to make more), so the worldbuilding suffers from that enough already.

~There are two scenarios when it comes to DCs: They can either roll them without any realistic chance of messing up or they can't hit them at all. Everyone has a specific set of skills (sometimes even crossclass) and can't do anything outside of them and they don't have all bases covered... so yeah, this right here prevented a lot of TPKs.

It works ok so far... even if roll20 is unncessarily antagonistic towards background-maps...

I google image searched Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 maps. They work amazingly well with dungeon exploring sessions. They have marked spots for treasure and everything. Even markers for monsters if you wanna be that lazy. You can prep a 5 level dungeon in 1 minute.

Just keep them on your tablet/smartphone and draw the borders on your real map.

[trikkydik]

I use an old school HD CRT tv as a table (I made a wooden frame for it to hold screen up). I plug in my laptop on it (which I also use as a DM screen with multiple tabs to switch to each situation I encounter).

I'm sure you could use a normal LCD screen with a glass cover but my tv is basically indestructable so I'm not too worried about using it as a table.


I use the screen as a map, you just take any old JPEG map with a hexagonal grid (or square, I just prefer hexes) on it and you size them up to fit your miniatures, saves a lot of time when your players travel a lot (especially if they have access to teleport or planar travel).

THATS DOPE AF!!!
I would love to have the images pop up on the map so amazing.

Do you use this for monster encounters as well?
Like, "a monster appears, it looks like this." Then have the TV display an
imagine of the monster.

So awesome. I wish I had a big screen tv to convert like that.

[Soranar]

THATS DOPE AF!!!
I would love to have the images pop up on the map so amazing.

Do you use this for monster encounters as well?
Like, "a monster appears, it looks like this." Then have the TV display an
imagine of the monster.

So awesome. I wish I had a big screen tv to convert like that.

I keep a bunch of pre made random encounters but I usually just flip my laptop around to show them what they're facing. The screen is great for maps but , since we all sit around it, it's not ideal for images like that.

If you want one craigslist (or such) probably has a few listed in your neighbourhood. Like I said old HD CRT are nearly indestructible and people end up stuck with them cause they keep waiting for them to die before they replace it. I'd recommend a Sony Trinitron if you can get one (they're flat, HD and the image is great). It's still fairly easy to get replacements parts if they break (though mine is 15 years old and I'm still waiting for something to break on it).

Most don't have HDMI ports (never mind VGA) but an adapter is about 10 bucks and most video card drivers can handle them. I prefer them for tables because of the durability of the screen and any viewing angle works. Just don't leave the same display on it for hours on end else you'll need to use the degauss function to remove the ghost of the image from the screen,

[trikkydik]

I keep a bunch of pre made random encounters but I usually just flip my laptop around to show them what they're facing. The screen is great for maps but , since we all sit around it, it's not ideal for images like that.

If you want one craigslist (or such) probably has a few listed in your neighbourhood. Like I said old HD CRT are nearly indestructible and people end up stuck with them cause they keep waiting for them to die before they replace it. I'd recommend a Sony Trinitron if you can get one (they're flat, HD and the image is great). It's still fairly easy to get replacements parts if they break (though mine is 15 years old and I'm still waiting for something to break on it).

Most don't have HDMI ports (never mind VGA) but an adapter is about 10 bucks and most video card drivers can handle them. I prefer them for tables because of the durability of the screen and any viewing angle works. Just don't leave the same display on it for hours on end else you'll need to use the degauss function to remove the ghost of the image from the screen,

That's pretty awesome. I'm going to seriously consider getting one. Thanks for the tip.

[mabriss lethe]

I'm seconding prerolling dice and stripped down index card sized monster entries. It really speeds up combat. I keep one index card that's nothing but d20 results for everything and each monster entry will have 5-10 prerolled damage results already calculated. I just decide what tactic they're going to use and have all of my numbers pregenerated.

- minor NPC casters use a short list of common spells chosen for simple fire-and-forget mechanics, also with relevant rolls recorded on notecards in advance. The whole notecard "spellbook" is then arranged/tabbed in alphabetical order on a binder ring.

[JonVMD]

Ask to the players some roll some dices in short intervals of minutes. So they will not be suspicious when you have something hidden .

[NerdHut]

Ask to the players some roll some dices in short intervals of minutes. So they will not be suspicious when you have something hidden .

Extra life hack: When the players are suspicious, USE that.

This past week, my players sold off their group loot, and the Vow of Poverty Monk went around the town donating his share to the needy (Peasants, struggling businesses and the like). He asked if he could make a spot check to see if anyone was following him, since he was waltzing around town giving out money. I hadn't thought of that, but instantly realized it was an excellent idea, so I fell back on a stat block I had used a few sessions prior. All of a sudden, the monk was being followed by a first-level Thug (fighter with sneak attack instead of bonus feats). It turned into an interesting encounter, and added tension to the story.

[smetzger]

I use an old school HD CRT tv as a table (I made a wooden frame for it to hold screen up). I plug in my laptop on it (which I also use as a DM screen with multiple tabs to switch to each situation I encounter).


Nice. FYI - you can get plex-glass (or equivalent) at Lowes/Home Depot to cover the screen. Then use wet erase markers on it for spell effects etc.

[BowStreetRunner]

Extra life hack: When the players are suspicious, USE that.
Absolutely do this!

I ran a game in another genre a while back (Cyberpunk: Night's Edge) that was all about feeding the paranoia. I wanted to create an atmosphere of tension, so was constantly just stopping play to ask the players to make checks at random times. I didn't really need them to make checks at those moments, but wanted to keep them constantly on edge. Also, whenever one of them thought of something (like checking the door to his apartment before opening it, just to see if it has been tampered with) I almost always used that to come up with something (in this case the player noticed something had been forced under the door - turned out to be an invitation to a neighborhood cookout, but the player spent ten minutes making sure he wasn't about to be ambushed before he found that out).

It's not something you want to do if you are trying to lull the players into a false sense of security, mind. But if you want to put them on edge you need to feed their paranoia a bit.

[smetzger]

1) Instead of backstories I ask for 3 adjectives that describe the character personality and a catch phrase or battle cry that they use.

2) For NPCs. I try to think of a character from a film or TV show and use that for their personality and or physical description.

3) For things like Spot checks I usually roll for the character. So, if they don't see it. They never suspect that they missed something.

4) Organize my stat blocks in order of their initiative bonus. That way I don't have to flip back and forth.

[Thurbane]

1) Instead of backstories I ask for 3 adjectives that describe the character personality and a catch phrase or battle cry that they use.

This is great advice - I'm trying to get the three players in my campaign to come up with back-stories, and some a struggling a little. This will be a good alternative to give them! :smallsmile:

[tyruth]

Always have tables for everything, and ideally pregenerated loot for random encounters if you don't have things planned out.

If you don't know what treasure to put in a hoard, get each of the players to put together a wishlist so that way you can give them what they want and they don't feel bad for having to sell off powerful gear because it doesn't match anyone's characters.

Put alphabetical bookmarks in the spells section of the PHB, saves a fair amount of time looking through the index or giving it a guess as to where the spell is.

Get a laminated map that you can draw on with a whiteboard pen (different colours to represent different things, red spell effects, blue water/terrain stuff, black impassable sections/walls, green trees and foliage/cover, etc...)

Get a list of random names for NPC's, they'll feel more engaged in the story if everyone they meet has a name as well as a profession.