Just Curious - What's It Like to DM?

[Runa]

See title. I keep thinking I might want to try it someday (and I figured I'd post here as I've kind of been wanting to for a while about this).

Not yet, as I'm still pretty much having fun with our weekly games as a PC. But someday. Maybe just a solo game with my boyfriend as the PC to start (he's a roleplayer not a rollplayer, so that might work out nicely). Eventually, someday.

In any case though, I was wondering - what IS it like to DM? What kind of personality does it take, as it were? The main reason I'm interested in it at all is because I think it would be fun to come up with basic stories and then improvise them into fun new directions as the player(s) make their choices. How hard is it to come up with or tweak basic adventures - as a whole, not just the stories, I would probably not have trouble coming up with stories as I pretty much think in stories all the time I'm talking figuring out how many monsters to pit against the characters and how much treasure to award and stuff like that - and what kind of soul-searching (so to speak) do I need to do before I can recognize whether or not DMing would fun for me? I'd kind of like to get some advice on this before I decide to spring for a DMG, you know? Since I'm pretty sure R. still will keep his DMG even though he doesn't DM anymore (he didn't like it, but I couldn't help but notice one of the things that seemed to frustrate him was adapting to unexpected directions the characters tried to take him into, and I personally think that would be a lot of fun to do), and of course, our current DM still kind of needs his. :P So either me or my boyfriend would be buying a new one, and well, yeah.

So, what sayth the people on this subject?

-Runa

[Malik]

It all depends on the group of players that you have. I've done some DM'ing and one group was really good and the other group just painful.

[Ninja Chocobo]

"Ever try to count hyperactive schoolchildren while someone shouts random numbers in your ear? It's something like that."

Seriously, it can be pretty rewarding for both you and your players if you do it right. Which generally involves quite a lot of work.

P.S.
A cookie to whoever gets the reference.

[V]

"Ever try to count hyperactive schoolchildren while someone shouts random numbers in your ear? It's something like that."


A cookie to whoever gets the reference.

Runeboggle?

Yay! Cookie!

[Charity]

It's like herding cats with sticks of dynamite.

[Dhavaer]

It's the perfect way of writing if you can't stand writing dialogue, because that's what PCs are for. It can get very frustrating when they do something that to you is obviously self-destructive. But it's excellent when it all comes together.

Of course, I've only played PbP. You don't need quite so much planning for that, although you will of course need to do some.

[Alveanerle]

"DMing is like a box of cereal - once you get a crunch on it, you can't stop."

Ok ok, i'm only a newbie DM with just a couple of sessions behind, but i can say that for me the transition to DMing was a worthy one. Instead of one character to play you now have scores of them. Just don't get too emotionaly attached to them.

[Ethdred]

People are being a bit negative here - it's not that complicated (well, it can be, but depends on your group). Starting with your bf is probably a good idea as he can presumably be relied on to a) not deliberately pee you off and b) give you some relatively honest feedback if you really aren't cut out for it.

The DMG has a lot of good stuff on the basic mechanics, like sizing encounters and giving treasure. I haven't got the DMG 2 but I understand it's pretty useful for starting DMs.

DMing is a lot of fun, for me, precisely because of the reason you give, of being able to make up and improvise stories. You can let lose your epic tendencies, and see how other people react to them. Be warned though, you can start getting addicted to buying more and more D&D books to help you develop things - you get a good idea for a desert adventure so pick up Sandstorm, then you have a really cool enemy who's a necromancer, so you pick up Libor Mortis, then......

[Diggorian]

If you're creative, a good speaker, like being the center of attention, and have a decent grasp of the rules it can be very enjoyable. With three of those four, it's still nice. Only half, you may want to cultivate the other two.

For your first foray, I'd say follow the DMG guidelines very closely. That'll teach ya how to negotiate the rules.

For inspiration, I'd advise you to focus on what the players think is cool more than what you think would be sweet. Assuming you play with friends this shouldnt be tough. Many first timers make this mistake and their stories become their's as opposed to everyone's. I dont write stories anymore. I just make general notes on settings, monsters and NPC's and just let the players wander into them adding detail as they go. How they handle these inspires what will come next.

Also, besides your BF, try running single episode adventures on RPG chat servers. DMs are few so you'll find test players easily and anonymously. Ask for feedback.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

If you're creative, a good speaker, like being the center of attention, and have a decent grasp of the rules it can be very enjoyable. With three of those four, it's still nice. Only half, you may want to cultivate the other two.

If you play with good friends that understand your speaking style, the "good speaker" bit is purely optional. I speak from personal experience on that one.

As to "being the center of attention"—well that doesn't mean you have to be one of those folks that goes out seeking the most attention wherever you go. Once again, from personal experience. I only like being the center of attention when that attention comes on my terms. Fortunately, when I DM, things are pretty much on my terms.

One thing that's vital when DMing is that you need to have an honest desire for everyone to have a good time. If you are not willing to work towards that, your game will be a train wreck. Like you, your player's are there to have fun. If they have a reasonable request, do your best to accomodate it. Treat them how you want your DM to treat you. Some of these things, of course, work best if you know your players well. Then you can anticipate maybe 60% or so of what they want/need and be prepared to work with it.

Beyond all that, though, everything varies quite dramatically depending on your personal preferences and your group. Some people like to plan every last detail of their campaign far in advance. Others (like me), tend to play in a "fly by the seat of your pants" style where nothing more than a few general ideas is ready more than a week before it's needed. Yet furthers improvise the whole thing. (You've gotta be really creative and really know the rules for that one.) All those styles will affect pretty much every aspect of your game.

[Raum]

In any case though, I was wondering - what IS it like to DM? What kind of personality does it take, as it were?

It takes creativity, a good knowledge of the rules & campaign, and a willingness to put twice as much work into the game as players. Most campaigns require a significant amount of preparation time. It often takes a willingness to scrap everything you prepared to wing it in whichever oddball direction your players chose to head.

The main reason I'm interested in it at all is because I think it would be fun to come up with basic stories and then improvise them into fun new directions as the player(s) make their choices. How hard is it to come up with or tweak basic adventures - as a whole, not just the stories, I would probably not have trouble coming up with stories as I pretty much think in stories all the time I'm talking figuring out how many monsters to pit against the characters and how much treasure to award and stuff like that - and what kind of soul-searching (so to speak) do I need to do before I can recognize whether or not DMing would fun for me?

Stories are easy. You can pull basic plots out of daily news, history, novels, or a variety of other sources. The work is in creating all of the NPCs and antagonists on paper. That's done for you if you use a published adventure, but then it can be harder to react to unexpected PC decisions.

I'd kind of like to get some advice on this before I decide to spring for a DMG, you know? Since I'm pretty sure R. still will keep his DMG even though he doesn't DM anymore (he didn't like it, but I couldn't help but notice one of the things that seemed to frustrate him was adapting to unexpected directions the characters tried to take him into, and I personally think that would be a lot of fun to do), and of course, our current DM still kind of needs his. :P

It can be fun to improvise on the spot...it gets frustrating when you get attached to the plot you put the time in to create. So if you're likely to tell the story you prepared no matter what the PCs say or do, you may want to reconsider DMing. On the other side, if you enjoy interactive story telling where you aren't in complete control of the story, you may have the makings of a good DM.

So either me or my boyfriend would be buying a new one, and well, yeah.

So, what sayth the people on this subject?

-Runa

I'd get the DMG whether you plan to DM or not...a good portion of the rules are in it and not in the PHB.

[valadil]

I think creativity is the most important part. Not so much because you need to come up with exciting new adventures for your players, but because making new adventures has to excite you.

A good understanding of the rules is nice, but only matters so much as your players like getting involved in the rules. If you don't want the rules to be an important part of your game, don't invite rollplayers until you are confident enough in your DMing to make sure they won't run rampant over you.

Really, DMing isn't all that big a deal that other DMs make it out to be. Just do it. It either works or it doesn't. What I like about DMing is that it lets me play a ton of characters but only on the surface instead of one character to the hilt. I have ideas for characters that make awesome first impressions, but getting boring after two sessions. These guys make great NPCs but poor PCs. I also feel like the DM gets to do way more improvising than players.

[Fourth Tempter]

It is like having fire ants made of sugar in one's brain.

[The J Pizzel]

It's like everyone has said. But one of the things I have to agree with the most is that DMing is, in a way, very selfless. You have to be willing to make them happy. Usually, the way to make them happy, is to overcome all the things you've been putting work into. Just last night I had a good large fight planned. The wizard "phatasmal killer"(ed) one and the cleric "slay living"(ed) the other. I know alot of DM's that woulda been extremely pee'd off with that (including our last DM). You have to be willing to pull a "well, good job party. Here's you exp" and not be mad about it.

Another point of interest is learning each party. My last campaign had numerous ROLEplayers in it. They could go 2-3 sessions without rolling an attack roll. My current group is the direct opposite. They want battle every session. You need to be willing to adapt to what your players want. Not that you can't have fun in the process. But in the end, your players gotta be happy.

With a big group is easier and harder at the same time. With a big group, I find that I'm almost a chaperone/DM during the sessions. You have to be stern sometimes and tell people to be quiet so you can hear the rest of the players, but as long as you be nice and respect them, it should be fine.

Movie reference:
"Be nice. If they wont' walk than you walk them, but be nice. If you can't walk them get some else to help you and you both...be nice."

Cookie for the winner.

jp

[Pauwel]

Movie reference:
"Be nice. If they wont' walk than you walk them, but be nice. If you can't walk them get some else to help you and you both...be nice."

Cookie for the winner.

Road House.
Now gimme that cookie!

[Raum]

Movie reference:
"Be nice. If they wont' walk than you walk them, but be nice. If you can't walk them get some else to help you and you both...be nice."

Swayze had some entertaining movies...and Kelly Lynch was definitely worth watching. :)

[The J Pizzel]

<gives out a warm ooey gooey raisin and candy corn cookie. Sprinkled with bits of cheyenne pepper>

What? I didn't say it would be a good cookie.

[Runa]

People are being a bit negative here - it's not that complicated (well, it can be, but depends on your group). Starting with your bf is probably a good idea as he can presumably be relied on to a) not deliberately pee you off and b) give you some relatively honest feedback if you really aren't cut out for it.

Yep, plus, he's really good natured and very easygoing. So if I mess up a little or forget something, he won't be annoying about it, and if he messes up and I point it out, he'll just laugh at himself for doing it (and then I'll laugh, because you can't not laugh when he does. He has that kind of personality). The perfect player to start with, methinks. ;)

The DMG has a lot of good stuff on the basic mechanics, like sizing encounters and giving treasure. I haven't got the DMG 2 but I understand it's pretty useful for starting DMs.

Cool, that's what I was hoping. :)

DMing is a lot of fun, for me, precisely because of the reason you give, of being able to make up and improvise stories. You can let lose your epic tendencies, and see how other people react to them. Be warned though, you can start getting addicted to buying more and more D&D books to help you develop things - you get a good idea for a desert adventure so pick up Sandstorm, then you have a really cool enemy who's a necromancer, so you pick up Libor Mortis, then......

Haha, I could see how that would happen. It's starting to sound like if I gave myself time to prepare, I would enjoy it... at least if I have certain ones of my friends playing (there's a "I want to kill things with a big sword" rollplayer in my group I'm not sure I'd want to DM for, but most of the others would probably be OK, especially my boyfriend, and our current group's Fighter is also pretty easygoing). Has anyone tried just coming up with a bajillion backup NPCs and if the PCs go in an unexpected direction, just pulled a few out to work with? That seems like it might be a good thing to do, among other things.

It's like everyone has said. But one of the things I have to agree with the most is that DMing is, in a way, very selfless. You have to be willing to make them happy. Usually, the way to make them happy, is to overcome all the things you've been putting work into. Just last night I had a good large fight planned. The wizard "phatasmal killer"(ed) one and the cleric "slay living"(ed) the other. I know alot of DM's that woulda been extremely pee'd off with that (including our last DM). You have to be willing to pull a "well, good job party. Here's you exp" and not be mad about it.

I would probably laugh at myself if that happened "Wow, what an epic battle that was. Perhaps I'm underestimating my PCs an eensy bit?".

Another point of interest is learning each party. My last campaign had numerous ROLEplayers in it. They could go 2-3 sessions without rolling an attack roll. My current group is the direct opposite. They want battle every session. You need to be willing to adapt to what your players want. Not that you can't have fun in the process. But in the end, your players gotta be happy.

It's probably a good thing then that the person or people I'd most likely end up DMing (at least offline) I know pretty well, at least as far as playing style goes. A couple want battles and XP and treasure every time, my boyfriend just wants to have fun and hopefully get treasure and stuff, and Mr. Fighter really just wants to have fun (case in point: he spent five minutes trying to convince our DM to give him a pony in one session. :P In case you're wondering what happened with that, the DM said "fine, roll two natural 20s in a row and you can have one". In an amusing twist of fate he did in fact roll two natural 20s in a row and got his pony). If I was setting up a game for all or most of the group I usually play with, I'd probably try to throw in both roleplaying opportunities and a couple of battles and some treasure. I'm positive the combination would be enjoyable for everyone. (I'd also probably look at the PCs' character sheets to check what they had in their arsenal and tailor the campaign a little more, something our DM sometimes forgets to do. There's an electronic character sheet thing online I got linked to on here from a different thread that could make that easier, though)

With a big group is easier and harder at the same time. With a big group, I find that I'm almost a chaperone/DM during the sessions. You have to be stern sometimes and tell people to be quiet so you can hear the rest of the players, but as long as you be nice and respect them, it should be fine.

I think I know what you mean. Our group has five PCs in it and I can't imagine us getting by with many more people, just from trying to communicate over the din sometimes. :P (Especially since we only have two PhBs between us)

[Dizlag]

I will second the notion from Mr. Windrider that you must have a desire for EVERYONE to have a good time. After all, having fun is what it's all about. Trying to accommodate everyone's wishes is a little tricksy sometimes, but in the long run it's all about having a good time.

Having a good grasp of the rules helps out a ton, but isn't necessarily crucial. Having another DM at the table helps out as well to help adjudicate things every once in awhile.

If it's your first time DMing, you should download The Burning Plague from the list of Original Adventures. It's a straight forward 1st level adventure and it will get you used to "running the game". You won't have to come up with the adventure or tweek it as it's pretty self contained as most of them on that site are.

Just give it a try and see how you like running the game. And remember, make it fun for everyone. If it's just gonna be your boyfriend and you, have him roll up a party of 4 1st level adventurers for the one shot. Or try to get a couple from your current gaming group to play as well. One on one gaming is different than having 4 others around your gaming table.

Good luck!

Dizlag

[Ethdred]

Yep, plus, he's really good natured and very easygoing. So if I mess up a little or forget something, he won't be annoying about it, and if he messes up and I point it out, he'll just laugh at himself for doing it (and then I'll laugh, because you can't not laugh when he does. He has that kind of personality). The perfect player to start with, methinks. ;)

Yeah, yeah, get a room

It's starting to sound like if I gave myself time to prepare, I would enjoy it... at least if I have certain ones of my friends playing (there's a "I want to kill things with a big sword" rollplayer in my group I'm not sure I'd want to DM for, but most of the others would probably be OK, especially my boyfriend, and our current group's Fighter is also pretty easygoing). Has anyone tried just coming up with a bajillion backup NPCs and if the PCs go in an unexpected direction, just pulled a few out to work with? That seems like it might be a good thing to do, among other things.

Yep, preparation is essential - as is working up to taking on the 'difficult' players. Once you've got some experience, you'll probably find that even the rollplayers can be part of a fun session (as long as they're not complete 'holes). The NPC idea is a possibility, but depends on how many NPCs you think you'll need and how much prep time you have - and how well you think you can improvise. An alternative would be to just have some ideas about possible NPCs, and then if the players meet someone who you think might become important later, you can wing it during the session when they first appear and then stat them up as much as you need to afterwards. I don't think your players will mind that all your bartenders fall into one of four types, but the lieutenant of the main enemy will probably have to be fully combat ready at some stage. One of my DM's has a main patron NPC who he plays like Boss Hogg, and I'd be prepared to bet that's about all the statting out he's done for him, because he knows we won't attack him, but there's a black dragon that when it turned up was way too big for us to take on (he told us it had a CR of 'plot') but now we're getting up to dragon killing level, he's probably done some more work on it.

Oh, and do keep a note of who your party meet - if you don't, it's for sure that one bright spark will insist on going back to see how Street Urchin #3 is getting on and will remember that the kid didn't talk like that last time.

If I was setting up a game for all or most of the group I usually play with, I'd probably try to throw in both roleplaying opportunities and a couple of battles and some treasure. I'm positive the combination would be enjoyable for everyone. (I'd also probably look at the PCs' character sheets to check what they had in their arsenal and tailor the campaign a little more, something our DM sometimes forgets to do. There's an electronic character sheet thing online I got linked to on here from a different thread that could make that easier, though)

Tailoring, both for players and characters, is really the most important thing about adventure design - glad to see you've noticed the lack of it in your own DM, as that bodes well for the future. Well, up until you realise how tricky it is to do right :) If you do come up with lots of potential stories, then you can afford to offer people a choice of what they'd prefer (and maybe combine story strands) rather than getting wedded to one uberplot. This also makes the grieving process easier when the players trash your concept by going off-piste. Being aware of the characters' strengths and weaknesses means you don't have to worry if they are not optimised or are missing something. In the campaign I mentioned above, we don't have a rogue, so the DM doesn't give us many traps but we do have a Bear Warrior, so there are plenty of enemies that can be grappled or fought with natural weapons.

Since we seem to have convinced you, hope it goes well. Let us know how you get on

[Deepblue706]

DMing can be fun - but be warned. If some of your players like you DMing TOO MUCH, you'll never get to be a PC

Why is DMing fun? Because it lets you play with people's emotions, and grants you great opportunities to get your players saying "I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die." I relish their fear. BWAHAHAHA!

Also, it gives you opportunity to make charicatures of people/things, express your own feelings, and can be very much like writing a story. A story that never really goes EXACTLY as planned...as there's plenty of random factors and whatnot....but many aspects are still present.

Yeah, good times.

Just, uh...yeah...it can be frustrating, as once in a while some unforeseen actions may lead to great changes in what's happening...which is precisely why it's not a very wise decision to plan very far ahead without back-up plans and such. Uh...yeah, I remember when I was quite young I wrote over 100 pages of material for a campaign (ya I got carried away)...actually closer to 200...and the thing totally derailed around page 50. See..."Chaotic Stupid" players tend to ruin things.Which brings up another thing: being aware of a player's intent is a must.

Yeah, DMs have to focus on a lot of things. It requires plenty of patience.

Anyway, DMing usually has the "big rewards for big work" going. But, the group you play with sometimes determines just how great the rewards are, as you may find to like one particular field of play, while your PCs will want more of something else. Conflicts of interest can make the game boring, so you also need to be aware of what style of game everyone really wants before going into it.

In conclusion: DMing can be very fun. But, don't do it all the time or you might end up hating it, everyone you play with, and your dog as well.



Stupid dog...

[snyggejygge]

I like being a DM, but it has to be in a good group of roleplayers, because when people just think about how to get more XP & get as good as possible in as low time as possible it gets very boring...

[Knight_Of_Twilight]

Its..fun, as long as you like your group.

Its a bit like writing a story, and then having these new characters that walk in and start acting on there own. These new characters eventually become the focus of the story, which tends to go organically from there.

[Raum]

Haha, I could see how that would happen. It's starting to sound like if I gave myself time to prepare, I would enjoy it... at least if I have certain ones of my friends playing (there's a "I want to kill things with a big sword" rollplayer in my group I'm not sure I'd want to DM for, but most of the others would probably be OK, especially my boyfriend, and our current group's Fighter is also pretty easygoing).

The "I want to kill it" player you describe may actually be one of the easier players to entertain. Just make sure there's at least one combat per session so he can get his fix of hitting stuff. If you're lucky, he may grow into more of a roleplayer simply by watching and participating with the other players in the story portions of the game.

Has anyone tried just coming up with a bajillion backup NPCs and if the PCs go in an unexpected direction, just pulled a few out to work with? That seems like it might be a good thing to do, among other things.

Yes, but not all up front. I had a 2" binder full of NPC categorized by level and class from when I GMed Shadowrun. But I didn't try to create them up front, I simply used the same format for all the NPCs I created for a given adventure and saved them when the adventure was over. It'd be even easier to do today by saving softcopies. Just ensure you organize them or they aren't all that useful.

It is probably easier to do in Shadowrun than in D&D...mostly because SR deals primarily with intelligent races as opponents. And there are far fewer races. :)

[Rob Knotts]

If you're running D&D or anything else, there's one very important thing you need to be able to do without hesitation: saying "no" to players. Practice it the mirror, practice saying it on your way to school/work/whatever, get comfortable saying it. You can always change your mind and say "yes" later", but you should start out being prepared to say "no" without hesitation.

When you start out with players who aren't familiar with you as a DM they will contanstantly, constantly ask you what they can get away with both in character creation and gameplay. It's natural for players, they're trying to figure out what boundaries you're creating for them. If you're more willing to say "yes" to what they ask for, not only is it likely for the game to go to hell, but it also makes accomplishments a lot less satisfying.

DMs aren't supposed to be opponents for players, they're supposed to be the source of challenge for the game. The more significant a challenge you present, the more satisfying success will be for the players.

[Diggorian]

Has anyone tried just coming up with a bajillion backup NPCs and if the PCs go in an unexpected direction, just pulled a few out to work with? That seems like it might be a good thing to do, among other things.

That's pretty much how I like to make my plots. A bunch of NPC's with their own motivations and plans that PC's just so happen to intersect with. The result of that interaction determines the next step. Primarily following nice structured plots may be better for a beginner though.

Thanks to Shhalahr for showing where I need to elaborate on my last post.

By good speaker, I mean good communicator. Your words must serve as the fives senses of the players. I shoot for the detail you find in video games in my stories (I feel competitive with them), emphasizing tactile, smell and taste that they cant do. How you emphasize and pace your speach bridges the gap between a good writer, which you sound like you may be, and a good storyteller.

"Like being the center of attention" = Dont be shy or nervous. This will mostly come from practice. One of our players tried her hand at DMing but would be literally nauseaous during her games. She practiced with her boyfriend first, but I think DMing over the net for strangers gives purer feedback. Feedback informs style, stronger style proficiency breeds confidence.

[bosssmiley]

Like juggling enraged cats and doing advanced mental arithmetic while pogo-sticking through a minefield.

Think of GMing in terms of film-making (team effort, shared vision, et blah):

Pros: You are the director of the ultimate geek-wet-dream big budget blockbuster extravaganza. You have infinite budget, infinite props, infinite cast, instant fan/customer feedback, and no producer trying to re-write your work to cater to some perceived market demographic.

Cons: The actors are geek fanbois who get to improv' their way through the entire plot. Also, they can walk out at any time if your offering bores them, or you don't give them enough limelight time, or you try to edit their contributions...

"GMing: it ain't meant to be for everyone."

[Runa]

I will second the notion from Mr. Windrider that you must have a desire for EVERYONE to have a good time. After all, having fun is what it's all about. Trying to accommodate everyone's wishes is a little tricksy sometimes, but in the long run it's all about having a good time.

Having a good grasp of the rules helps out a ton, but isn't necessarily crucial. Having another DM at the table helps out as well to help adjudicate things every once in awhile.

If it's your first time DMing, you should download The Burning Plague from the list of Original Adventures. It's a straight forward 1st level adventure and it will get you used to "running the game". You won't have to come up with the adventure or tweek it as it's pretty self contained as most of them on that site are.

Cool. :)

Just give it a try and see how you like running the game. And remember, make it fun for everyone. If it's just gonna be your boyfriend and you, have him roll up a party of 4 1st level adventurers for the one shot. Or try to get a couple from your current gaming group to play as well. One on one gaming is different than having 4 others around your gaming table.

I'd imagine it would be.

Good luck!

Dizlag

Thanks :)

Yep, preparation is essential - as is working up to taking on the 'difficult' players. Once you've got some experience, you'll probably find that even the rollplayers can be part of a fun session (as long as they're not complete 'holes). The NPC idea is a possibility, but depends on how many NPCs you think you'll need and how much prep time you have - and how well you think you can improvise. An alternative would be to just have some ideas about possible NPCs, and then if the players meet someone who you think might become important later, you can wing it during the session when they first appear and then stat them up as much as you need to afterwards. I don't think your players will mind that all your bartenders fall into one of four types, but the lieutenant of the main enemy will probably have to be fully combat ready at some stage. One of my DM's has a main patron NPC who he plays like Boss Hogg, and I'd be prepared to bet that's about all the statting out he's done for him, because he knows we won't attack him, but there's a black dragon that when it turned up was way too big for us to take on (he told us it had a CR of 'plot') but now we're getting up to dragon killing level, he's probably done some more work on it.

Oh, and do keep a note of who your party meet - if you don't, it's for sure that one bright spark will insist on going back to see how Street Urchin #3 is getting on and will remember that the kid didn't talk like that last time.

Sounds like good advice. :)

Tailoring, both for players and characters, is really the most important thing about adventure design - glad to see you've noticed the lack of it in your own DM, as that bodes well for the future. Well, up until you realise how tricky it is to do right :) If you do come up with lots of potential stories, then you can afford to offer people a choice of what they'd prefer (and maybe combine story strands) rather than getting wedded to one uberplot. This also makes the grieving process easier when the players trash your concept by going off-piste. Being aware of the characters' strengths and weaknesses means you don't have to worry if they are not optimised or are missing something. In the campaign I mentioned above, we don't have a rogue, so the DM doesn't give us many traps but we do have a Bear Warrior, so there are plenty of enemies that can be grappled or fought with natural weapons.

Yeah, that actually also sounds like one of the most fun parts (albeit I'm sure also challenging). My head swims with the story possibilities (in addition to knowing what they can and can't handle as far as traps and CRs and stuff go), for instance a party where somebody randomly decided to add a sewing needle to their equipment, and they meet an NPC that needs a needle and oh, look, she has important information she's willing to trade... (they would be amused by something like that, I think).

Since we seem to have convinced you, hope it goes well. Let us know how you get on

Will do, though it'll probably be a few weeks at least before I'm prepped and have a chance to do it. ^_^

-Runa

[Narmoth]

Well, i think I can give some suggestions that might help you:
First of all, have a story for the game. The story consist of 3 parts:
- Backstory, what the campaign is all about:
Is the city lain siege to by orcs and the player characters are part of a guerilla warfare to get suplies to it, are they hunting the undead plague in the realm of Dyl Bobban or are Illithids gaining control in the realm of man and wan't to summon a sertain elder god? The more things you put in the backstory (different groups and persons, their motives, their resourses, maps and so on), the less you will have to make up. Be prepared to change anything that you later in the game discover should be different.
The backstory is the part that provides the reasons for the party to be there and some things for them to do. Most importantly it gives them reasons for doing whatever you want them to do.
- The campaign unfolds:
Here the players take action, but a lot of events might happen that they only hear about or see themselves, but can't do much about (the orcs conquer the city or the thieves guild is taken over by illithids or the vampire hunter sent to deal with the undeads is found dead). Here the story starts to change from what you had planned by unforceen action by the players (the players killed the vampire hunter thinking he was a vampire or something). Here is it important to let you players do what they want, even if it ruins a part of the campaign. Just because the heroic story you made says that the players should defeat the illithid priest in the start of the campaign you can't forbid the players to try, and maybee succed to ally him instead.
- The campaign either works like you wanted, just totally different from how you wanted, or gets totally ruined and weird (the players are proclaimed lords of the orcish race and consumed with a spicy souce). In this part the players affect you campaign world in a major way, and little should happen that the can not affect in a major way. At this point the story is usually as far away from the written story as possible, and the players are using the orcs to dig up undead to sacrifice to the elder god of the illithids. This is the phase where the game ends, after the dm unleashes and undead elder orcish god with tentacles and psionics on the players. (This is a bit more enginerous way of doing it than "rock fails, everybody starts to listen to rap-music").

[Vuzzmop]

When I DM, I am god. No less.