So for the past more than a year I've had a regular group of now-ex-classmates along with my significant other playing a DND campaign. The DM is amazing (he's a speechwriter), but we stopped playing that campaign because he doesn't like to do DND over video/VOIP. Get that, respect it, so we just finished up a shorter-run of Quest. Was a lot of fun, and now we're taking a month off before I start a campaign. Been working through the story, created a map of the region, set down the history and am gonna spend the rest of the weekend writing other parts of the story. Any tips?
So for the past more than a year I've had a regular group of now-ex-classmates along with my significant other playing a DND campaign. The DM is amazing (he's a speechwriter), but we stopped playing that campaign because he doesn't like to do DND over video/VOIP. Get that, respect it, so we just finished up a shorter-run of Quest. Was a lot of fun, and now we're taking a month off before I start a campaign. Been working through the story, created a map of the region, set down the history and am gonna spend the rest of the weekend writing other parts of the story. Any tips?
Dungeon World has good guidelines for collaborative storytelling. "Draw maps, leave blank spaces" is the opening maxim. Develop a map for the region, develop some history, but intentionally leave gaps in both to allow players to fill them in during character creation and play. When a player asks you a question about the history of a ruin or a detail about a settlement, turn the question around on them and ask them what their character has heard about it, or if they've heard a legend about it, etc.
Your players will always be more clever than you, steal their ideas and act like you intended it all along. Assuming there is some suspension of disbelief you will come off like you were brilliant.
As an example, through improv we ended up with the PCs in a frog person swamp town where the bugs had gone away. I as the GM had NO clue how they might solve this, though I had some vague ideas as to what had happened. But when one of the players was like, "Oh I can make light, if I climb up their totem pole and make the top glow, would that attract bugs?"
Fuck YES that will work AND as a bonus I know the way it's written that spell doesn't work when you aren't near it, so they did it, bugs came back, frogs rejoiced, and once the PC's got far enough away the light flickered out, bugs left and now a horde of frog people are chasing them.
All I had known going in was there were frog people in the swamp that people were disappearing into.
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
I add a lot of stuff I had not originally planned to because one of my players wondered out loud "I wonder if [X]" or "I bet this is [Y]" and I think oh, that's a good idea, yes that's now true, thank you player.
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
Like as an example, in the current game I run my players have been tasked by the Lady of Pain with chasing down a Bhaalite cult that's trying to start shit in Sigil (she doesn't feel like doing it herself, shutup). They've managed to figure out they're buying up lots of houses in a particular part of the city. My thoughts on this had been that they're just making false leads and only one or two will actually be used as a base of operations for the cult.
One of my players was like "we need a map, I bet they're forming a symbol of Bhaal" and the party spent the next two hours trying to figure out how to map the area. That idea hadn't even occurred to me but it rules, you bet your ass that's what the cult is doing now.
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AuralynxDarkness is a perspectiveWatching the ego workRegistered Userregular
I add a lot of stuff I had not originally planned to because one of my players wondered out loud "I wonder if [X]" or "I bet this is [Y]" and I think oh, that's a good idea, yes that's now true, thank you player.
Yeah, I'm running Stars Without Number at the moment, which has a lot of excellent build-a-skeleton tools.
I've been letting my players do a lot of the fleshing-out, though, based on their own goals.
"Where can we make money off an image of this alien ship's operating system?" is about to lead them to the Grand Computatron's planet, run by a global AI known for being extremely friendly. So friendly that the natives of a nearby planet fear it's trying to control their minds.
What they find when they get there is going to depend entirely on how they choose to approach contacting it, though.
I add a lot of stuff I had not originally planned to because one of my players wondered out loud "I wonder if [X]" or "I bet this is [Y]" and I think oh, that's a good idea, yes that's now true, thank you player.
Fun story, at the beginning of the campaign (that we didn't finish) I was a murderous asshole that kept chopping people's heads off and keeping them as treasures. One of them, Ned (or was it Ted) had a brother named Ted (or was it Ned). The brother joined our party for a little while then parted ways.
Much later on in the story we're before a committee to decide on something for us, and someone in the audience yells out against us and someone in the group said "I bet it's fucking Ted (or was it Ned)"
DM went with it.
I then threw his brother's head at him for speaking against us and started a fight.
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
It's almost like tabletop games work way better when treated as collaborative storytelling instead of The DM's Interactive Novel!
I've got the world set out in general terms. Lots of blank space to potentially fill in. The backstory of the land is set and provides some impetus for the players when they first start out. I've got action that happens early on to spur them after a quest or two and the broad strokes of things will learn that changes what they thought they knew about the backstory. First session or two will be a "quest" in the starting area and they'll stumble upon some bit of information, after which the beginning action occurs and then I can kind of go from there.
It's almost like tabletop games work way better when treated as collaborative storytelling instead of The DM's Interactive Novel!
I was talking to someone recently about running games and mentioned I'm currently playing a game with no prep and no dice, they looked at me like I had three heads. But I will aboslutely go to the mat for "Adult pretend with more rules"
I love table top games. Were only a few weeks from my wife's game starting, and she wanted everyone to have a keepsake from their father that will play into the story.
Two years ago when we invited two of our other players they barely understood D&D and one whom I've known since the first grade, really just seemed to be going along with it because her husband wanted to play and it was a social activity.
Now shes created a Bear-Shifter Barbarian from the frozen north who has a tattoo made of her fathers blood that pulses in her arm when someone in her bloodline is in danger. Her husband is playing a lady druid who has a magic luck mushroom encased in never melting ice she wears as a necklace. My best friend (our other player) specifically asked she not show me his stuff, but he sent over 10 pages of backstory. 10 pages!!!
It's almost like tabletop games work way better when treated as collaborative storytelling instead of The DM's Interactive Novel!
I was talking to someone recently about running games and mentioned I'm currently playing a game with no prep and no dice, they looked at me like I had three heads. But I will aboslutely go to the mat for "Adult pretend with more rules"
Really? I only got into it for the sweet, sweet Satanic powers.
Sometimes I feel a bit wistful and sad about all the friends I've had to cut ties with because I killed them in my D&D game, but hell, that's how Gary did it back in the day so that's how I'm gonna do it now.
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
You cut ties with them? I've killed everyone who dies in a D&D game.
God damn Hero Forge is impressing me lately. Just checked in and now they've got an option for a relaxed grip on weapons, new completely oversized "epic weapons", and even a new section for facial and bellybutton piercings.
It's almost like tabletop games work way better when treated as collaborative storytelling instead of The DM's Interactive Novel!
I was talking to someone recently about running games and mentioned I'm currently playing a game with no prep and no dice, they looked at me like I had three heads. But I will aboslutely go to the mat for "Adult pretend with more rules"
About the only kind of prep heavy game I dig are heist style games like Shadowrun or Infinity. Where the enjoyment is partially in dumping a (decently) designed puzzle box of security and story infront of the players and watching them bumble through exactly what's going on and how to deal with it.
I am not sure some 5e lifers have ever considered an alternative to prep heavy
I was in a Dragon Heist campaign that wrapped up, and I ran Boy Problems as a one shot for the campaign while the DM figured out what to do next, and me going “okay, so, describe where you’re meeting up” made the entire group sit up and take a breath
I don’t think any of them had ever heard a DM tell them as players to create a location!
Interestingly I had almost an opposite effect. I had a a player who was a hobgoblin and I asked her to how hobgoblin society and the magic college she attended we're like. And after the session she told me that she did not like being expected to come up with lore on the fly. She found it stressful to contribute anything besides what actions her character was making.
Interestingly I had almost an opposite effect. I had a a player who was a hobgoblin and I asked her to how hobgoblin society and the magic college she attended we're like. And after the session she told me that she did not like being expected to come up with lore on the fly. She found it stressful to contribute anything besides what actions her character was making.
This is also of course a legit way to play, just not my personal pref.
I love getting folks involved, but yes, if they’re stumped I’ll work with them or fall back on explaining it myself.
I like to lay a solid foundation like “The land has fallen into perpetual night; we’re gonna be playing basically Dark Souls” or “Here’s a quick primer on the cultures of this nation, say where you’re from and why you’ve joined the hero’s academy” and going from there.
I don’t expect them to decide how many moons the world has, but they get to make their home town, know a NPC connection they make up on the fly and expand on things as they come up, like the Fighter knowing what orcs generally wield in battle.
Interestingly I had almost an opposite effect. I had a a player who was a hobgoblin and I asked her to how hobgoblin society and the magic college she attended we're like. And after the session she told me that she did not like being expected to come up with lore on the fly. She found it stressful to contribute anything besides what actions her character was making.
I absolutely have played with someone who does not find the creative part fun but does enjoy the act of playing RPGs.
It's one of those things where it's fine (unless it's a heavily narrative game) but needs people to just be aware of what every players buy in is.
Also I've being re-reading a bunch of Red Markets lately and kinda want to run it real bad.
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
Maybe it's because I always play characters who are elaborate liars (or perhaps because I am an elaborate liar myself), but I can't imagine a roleplaying game where I wasn't having to come up with that sort of thing on the fly. Like, I've played plenty of D&D where the world itself is set in stone, but you still need to tell stories from your childhood and things that happened on adventures past and provide alibis.
I like all of those. As a player sometimes I just want to only describe what my character does and says, other times I want to collaborate with the DM and other players. As a DM I tend to want to prep a bunch, but that's also really stressful so sometimes I just say fuck it and wing it even though I'm also bad at improv and stressed by it too lol
Maybe it's because I always play characters who are elaborate liars (or perhaps because I am an elaborate liar myself), but I can't imagine a roleplaying game where I wasn't having to come up with that sort of thing on the fly. Like, I've played plenty of D&D where the world itself is set in stone, but you still need to tell stories from your childhood and things that happened on adventures past and provide alibis.
My preference is worlds that are kind of set and the "big players" are defined and then the players come up with the backstory themselves.
The campaign we had to stop I inadvertently came up with the actual Main Villain for our campaign in my backstory
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gavindelThe reason all your softwareis brokenRegistered Userregular
A good session zero can really help you zero in on the types of your players. If someone spends all of their rounds outlining their own character, that's a big hint they probably just want to play that person. If, like me, they spend the entire session zero undermining your premise by inserting increasingly absurd JRPG references, you know that they should be dropped into a volcano.
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I have not actually played the game yet, and it's not even fully released, but it is really swinging for the fences with its anti-colonial fantasy
Well that's kind of neat, I wonder what it invol....ohhh noooooooo!
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Hey, now. Indy
There's a lot to dislike about Temple of Doom but that part is a plus.
right
this is cruelty
Dungeon World has good guidelines for collaborative storytelling. "Draw maps, leave blank spaces" is the opening maxim. Develop a map for the region, develop some history, but intentionally leave gaps in both to allow players to fill them in during character creation and play. When a player asks you a question about the history of a ruin or a detail about a settlement, turn the question around on them and ask them what their character has heard about it, or if they've heard a legend about it, etc.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
As an example, through improv we ended up with the PCs in a frog person swamp town where the bugs had gone away. I as the GM had NO clue how they might solve this, though I had some vague ideas as to what had happened. But when one of the players was like, "Oh I can make light, if I climb up their totem pole and make the top glow, would that attract bugs?"
Fuck YES that will work AND as a bonus I know the way it's written that spell doesn't work when you aren't near it, so they did it, bugs came back, frogs rejoiced, and once the PC's got far enough away the light flickered out, bugs left and now a horde of frog people are chasing them.
All I had known going in was there were frog people in the swamp that people were disappearing into.
One of my players was like "we need a map, I bet they're forming a symbol of Bhaal" and the party spent the next two hours trying to figure out how to map the area. That idea hadn't even occurred to me but it rules, you bet your ass that's what the cult is doing now.
Yeah, I'm running Stars Without Number at the moment, which has a lot of excellent build-a-skeleton tools.
I've been letting my players do a lot of the fleshing-out, though, based on their own goals.
"Where can we make money off an image of this alien ship's operating system?" is about to lead them to the Grand Computatron's planet, run by a global AI known for being extremely friendly. So friendly that the natives of a nearby planet fear it's trying to control their minds.
What they find when they get there is going to depend entirely on how they choose to approach contacting it, though.
Fun story, at the beginning of the campaign (that we didn't finish) I was a murderous asshole that kept chopping people's heads off and keeping them as treasures. One of them, Ned (or was it Ted) had a brother named Ted (or was it Ned). The brother joined our party for a little while then parted ways.
Much later on in the story we're before a committee to decide on something for us, and someone in the audience yells out against us and someone in the group said "I bet it's fucking Ted (or was it Ned)"
DM went with it.
I then threw his brother's head at him for speaking against us and started a fight.
I've got the world set out in general terms. Lots of blank space to potentially fill in. The backstory of the land is set and provides some impetus for the players when they first start out. I've got action that happens early on to spur them after a quest or two and the broad strokes of things will learn that changes what they thought they knew about the backstory. First session or two will be a "quest" in the starting area and they'll stumble upon some bit of information, after which the beginning action occurs and then I can kind of go from there.
I was talking to someone recently about running games and mentioned I'm currently playing a game with no prep and no dice, they looked at me like I had three heads. But I will aboslutely go to the mat for "Adult pretend with more rules"
Two years ago when we invited two of our other players they barely understood D&D and one whom I've known since the first grade, really just seemed to be going along with it because her husband wanted to play and it was a social activity.
Now shes created a Bear-Shifter Barbarian from the frozen north who has a tattoo made of her fathers blood that pulses in her arm when someone in her bloodline is in danger. Her husband is playing a lady druid who has a magic luck mushroom encased in never melting ice she wears as a necklace. My best friend (our other player) specifically asked she not show me his stuff, but he sent over 10 pages of backstory. 10 pages!!!
I am just loving this.
Really? I only got into it for the sweet, sweet Satanic powers.
...is that not the intention?
Throwing a copy of Lancer at the police is probably one of the greatest praises the devs could want
About the only kind of prep heavy game I dig are heist style games like Shadowrun or Infinity. Where the enjoyment is partially in dumping a (decently) designed puzzle box of security and story infront of the players and watching them bumble through exactly what's going on and how to deal with it.
And if my players want to be "collaborative" and "contribute" they can fuck right off
I'll give them what they need, and what they need is both brutal and heinous
I was in a Dragon Heist campaign that wrapped up, and I ran Boy Problems as a one shot for the campaign while the DM figured out what to do next, and me going “okay, so, describe where you’re meeting up” made the entire group sit up and take a breath
I don’t think any of them had ever heard a DM tell them as players to create a location!
This is also of course a legit way to play, just not my personal pref.
I like to lay a solid foundation like “The land has fallen into perpetual night; we’re gonna be playing basically Dark Souls” or “Here’s a quick primer on the cultures of this nation, say where you’re from and why you’ve joined the hero’s academy” and going from there.
I don’t expect them to decide how many moons the world has, but they get to make their home town, know a NPC connection they make up on the fly and expand on things as they come up, like the Fighter knowing what orcs generally wield in battle.
I absolutely have played with someone who does not find the creative part fun but does enjoy the act of playing RPGs.
It's one of those things where it's fine (unless it's a heavily narrative game) but needs people to just be aware of what every players buy in is.
Also I've being re-reading a bunch of Red Markets lately and kinda want to run it real bad.
I am a mercurial contradiction
My preference is worlds that are kind of set and the "big players" are defined and then the players come up with the backstory themselves.
The campaign we had to stop I inadvertently came up with the actual Main Villain for our campaign in my backstory