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View Full Version : DM Help Involving players in the creation of the story



Kafana
2016-12-04, 09:45 AM
I'm leading a new group soon, and I've been tinkering with an idea I'd like to incorporate this time round in my campaign, but I need opinions from other people in the hobby.

Basically, as a DM I'd like to occasionally present a situation which isn't described in detail, and ask the players to fill in the blanks. For example I'd narrate something along the lines:

"As you're walking through the jungle you come across an old, ruined house, overgrown with vegetation. Since you were about to setup camp anyway you make your way to the ruined house in hopes of finding at least some shelter. As you enter the skeleton of a once proud house you notice a shaft leading underground, and upon closer examination you see something quite peculiar. What do you see?"

So, I provide the initial context, but throw the narrative to the players. Now, if there is at least 1 player who enjoys the storytelling aspect of D&D he/she might be interested in this type of "encounter". Since the group is made of friends and not strangers I don't believe we'll have any conflicts in that sense, and at the end of the day I can still veto something or alter it in order to avoid any inappropriate ideas.

Do you think this can be fun? My hope is that I'll not only get a more interesting story all together, but also a better look at what the players like to do based on their ideas.

Koo Rehtorb
2016-12-04, 10:02 AM
If you're going to do this I'd suggest avoiding vetoing anything outright. That breaks trust if you ask for input and then immediately shut it down. A better way is tweaking those suggestions so they fit better.

But yes, this is a perfectly fine way to run games sometimes.

Cernor
2016-12-04, 11:37 AM
Funnily enough, I just started a new game by doing this. The basic premise is that the players were chasing someone who'd stolen something, but they got to decide what was stolen, who stole it, and why they were chasing this person.

What I noticed is that one or two people came up with most of the ideas, and then the others chipped in with smaller details. I'd recommend that you don't just record the first thing that somebody shouts out: if two people think it should be different (looking down the hole, one thinks there should be skeletons of old adventurers - the other thinks there should be an odd glowing crystal at the bottom), ask the group which they'd prefer. If they can't decide, go for the choice which gives you more ideas to expand upon.

Don't pretend you don't have veto power, but don't do it willy-nilly: the two things I'd personally veto are people saying they find powerful magical equipment at every opportunity, or things which are unsuited for the game (e.g. they find a cell phone in a pseudo-medieval setting). However, if you're clear about why you give the players creative freedom then you shouldn't have to veto anything.

Darth Ultron
2016-12-04, 06:16 PM
Do you think this can be fun? My hope is that I'll not only get a more interesting story all together, but also a better look at what the players like to do based on their ideas.

It can be fun, sure. But note this is not some magic idea that will just make your games beyond great while you just sit back and watch.

Some players, maybe a handful, are creative and want to make the story.....but that won't be true of everyone. A lot of people play the game to be a player and just have an adventure....they don't want to make an adventure, they just want to experience it.

Plenty of players will abuse the power, so you will have to be OK with that, assuming you won't veto anything.

And while some players might have great ideas....a lot more will be dull, boring or even bad ideas. So again, if your not going to veto, you will be stuck playing with dull, boring or bad ideas...and will need to be ok with that.

Even worse, most players ''don't really know what they want'', oh, sure they will say they want this or that, but they won't really want that. And again, with no veto, you will have to be OK with that.

Cluedrew
2016-12-04, 06:25 PM
I've never done this during play, but I have played in games where we made the setting as part of campaign set up. From that I would say let people bounce a few ideas around before choosing. If someone forwards an idea that is inappropriate, point out why it is inappropriate. Often people will withdraw it without any formal "veto".

Also for the first couple of times, have some back up ideas in case people draw a blank.

RazorChain
2016-12-04, 09:00 PM
I often do this in the start of a campaign. This is a great way to get the adventure going and tie characters to each other.

For example I did this at the start of a Cyberpunk campaign where the focus was vigilantism and the PC's werent hardened mercenaries doing jobs for megacorporations but locals who decided to take action against gangs and organized crime.


So the adventure started when they were getting involved the first time. So I asked them what crime they were stopping. They decided they were stopping a drug deal between a local gang and drug traffickers and then I got them to fill in the details what gang it was, who were the traffickers.

We also made their backgrounds in the same time, why they got together to fight crime and who they were and how they met.

I've also run games where the players had meta-currency called plot points which they could use to start a new plot, alter the plot, introduce an NPC or a place or change the scene.

Else when we have started campaigns we usually discuss things after sessions and there I ask the players what they want to see in the game, what they want to focus on and I try to incorporate it. It might be as simple as dungeon delving, exploration, more intrigue, more action, more fights, to explore some character power, to focus on a character goal or explore some details from a character background.

This helps me as a GM a lot as then I can focus my creative energy on what the PC's are going to do instead what they might do and also the player buy in is already there at the start. If the players tell me they are going to focus on finding one characters long lost father then we know what next session(s) will focus on.

2D8HP
2016-12-04, 09:36 PM
"As you're walking through...... What do you see?".....
Do you think this can be fun?.An out of play survey of what kind of adventures is great, and being asked to provide a "who's who", and "what's what", of the "hamlet of Village" were my PC grew up is fine, but more than that?
Not usually for this player as it wrecks my sense of exploring a "world".

In a recent "adventure", all the PC's were invited for a meeting with a NPC, and eventually it became silent, the DM said
Is everyone waiting for me again? so,

Well the rest of us were shown to our rooms. We need time skip to the next day, unless you want everyone to say "I go to bed"

All right, time-skip it is. I'd assumed you might have wanted to commiserate or strategize before hitting the sack.
Trying to escape being "locked into lameness", in a mute room by I said that my PC, was having a delusional fit, and "forgetting where he is and his purpose there, arms himself and rides "Rocinante" to where he last battled the forces of the Queen", to which the DM responded:

I can figure out what he might encounter if you want, or you can decide for yourself. Up to you.

This ended the game for me. While deep in my mind I know that the games "world" is just a contrivance, I do want some sense of a "world" to explore, so I want a clear division of players controlling the wills of their PC's, and DM"s being responsible for the environment, but I want the environment to be more than an "empty room".

The game got started weirdly in that a player, posted a notice that they had a 10th level PC they wanted to play so the conceit was that the PC's were all retired adventurers coming together to face an old threat, so I'm guessing that the DM expected continuing player Worldbuilding?
It seemed promising at first, but just got lame fast.
The DM said they were running three other games besides that one, and I think that he was just burned out and why he volunteered to DM at all puzzles me.In an earlier post I wrote of how I found that as a player being asked "what does your PC find there", by a GM as disagreeable as being "railroaded, because it ruins my sense of "exploring a world", and I like a clear division between what the GM controls and what the player controls.

Recently I read an installment of "Dice Tales", which details something similar:

Backseat GM'ing (http://bookviewcafe.com/blog/2016/10/09/dice-tales-backseat-gming/)

Arbane
2016-12-04, 09:50 PM
You might want to take a look at the Dresden Files RPG, where designing the campaign city is something all the players and the GM pitch in on.

kyoryu
2016-12-04, 10:24 PM
Players helping set up the world/situation is something I find super useful, because it helps get players involved in what's going on.

This doesn't really continue past the first session, except implicitly through player actions (like if the players decide to infiltrate a theives' guild then guess what, that's part of the story).

This is the tool I use:

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/117868/A-Spark-in-Fate-Core