Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[dewboy]

Hey, my friends and I play a (relaxed) type of D&D based highly on story telling and NPC communication. Our old DM decided to take a break and I'm going to replace him for a while. Any tips for a newb?

[Dorf_Lundgren]

Say yes or roll the dice is great advice for any rpg. Also, rules, shmules. Fun is the first priority.
John

[Neonivek]

Hey, my friends and I play a (relaxed) type of D&D based highly on story telling and NPC communication. Our old DM decided to take a break and I'm going to replace him for a while. Any tips for a newb?

Know the other characters the players are playing.

Many obstacles can be completely overpowered or superfluous with the right/wrong team.

Also I like to keep notes on hand as well. So if you need to see how a NPC will react to something you can just check your notes.

[Mephansteras]

In my experience, the best games are those where the party starts off together with a common cause. So if you're doing a new party as opposed to simply taking over DMing for your current party, that's a great place to start. They can be part of the same organization, all hand-picked by some authority figure, whatever, but one of the hardest games to get right is the 'you all meet each other in this spot...and GO!' which often fails unless the players make a concerted effort for it to work.

Beyond that, try to keep things fairly simple. A basic storyline with concrete goals can help a lot. Just be prepared for your players to do things you never expected them to, and if you need to go off form your expected script, be prepared to wing it!

[Neonivek]

Just be prepared for your players to do things you never expected them to

I am happy to say that has never happened to me.

With good planning and a good imagination you can see the options in front of you, as well a lot of the side things players will try to do is easy to handle on the fly (Ohh I rob houses while everyone is away).

[nenjin]

I'd try a forum search for tabletop, pen and paper, D&D, ect.....a lot of advice threads with a lot of useful input have come through here.

But here I go: remember it's really more about your PCs than it is about you or your story. Don't get too attached to your NPCs or your plot. (Ignore Neon's experiences, he's special.) Players will wreck both, or at least will not do what you expect them to. They might kill the king as soon as help him. They might start a scene with a no-name NPC merchant out of the blue, while ignoring your other, fully fleshed out NPCs. They will ask questions about your world/plot/logic that you haven't thought about, and not ask the questions you were prepared to answer. Stay flexible and don't get hung up on trying to find ways to tell your players no. That's not fun for them, or you really. Instead, always think about what the best way to tell them yes is. Empower your players, don't stifle them. (Within your own boundaries, of course.)

[Neonivek]

(Ignore Neon's experiences, he's special.)

It isn't that, it is that there is a check list of "unexpected" things PCs will do, and since I played WAAAY more then I GMed I have general experience in that. Ok that and one unexpected thing DID happen once, but that was because the PCs did something odd, but that wasn't dungeons and dragons.

For example I try to plan on these contingencies
1) The PCs will avoid the encounter
2) The PCs will negotiate/surrender/lose the encounter
3) The PCs will ignore the encounter
4) The PCs will avoid all aid and plot hooks
5) The PCs will seek additional aid and plot hooks
6) The PCs won't know obvious things that are obvious
7) The PCs will take a clue too far
8] The PCs don't feel like roleplaying

You need to be aware of the scenario you are creating and when you are, the ways at which the PCs can go completely off the rails. If you let players off the rails too long then they will complain you are not DMing (Keep an Emergency dungeons on hand, it works great for random discursions). Yet if you keep them on the rails too often they will start treating the game like a routine.

Though here is a tip: Never EVER give the players an open goal without telling them how to achieve it first. You don't have to tell them the individual steps they need to take, but they should be a bit more obvious. So if they need to go somewhere and they don't know where it is, tell them a map would be helpful or that they need directions.

[Mephansteras]

I can plan for contingencies all I want, but the things my players come up with manage to surprise me on a fairly regular basis. I can handle it ok, but that's because half of my DMing is winging it anyway. But a group of highly creative people beats the imagination of a single creative person anytime.

As an example: I once had a party randomly decide to break someone out of jail when they entered a town. Not anyone specific, mind you, just someone. So I had to come up with a building plan for the jail and stats for the guards all all that on the fly.

That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. You have to be prepared to come up with stuff on a moment's notice because your players decide to go off an do something for whatever reason. That's part of being a DM.

[Neonivek]

I once had a party randomly decide to break someone out of jail when they entered a town

Sneak check, pick locks check, then another sneak check. Against DC: 25, then a DC: 35, Then a DC: 30

Done.

No surprise there, they are doing a "side excursion" of unimportance.

Why unimportant? because if he succeeds he gains nothing, it doesn't advance personal plot or world plot, and only if he fails does it become important.

Now if all the PCs decided to storm the town and take it for themselves...

[Frumple]

... and if the party has no one capable of stealth or lockpicking?

[Bluerobin]

4) The PCs will avoid all aid and plot hooks
...
6) The PCs won't know obvious things that are obvious
7) The PCs will take a clue too far

Though here is a tip: Never EVER give the players an open goal without telling them how to achieve it first. You don't have to tell them the individual steps they need to take, but they should be a bit more obvious. So if they need to go somewhere and they don't know where it is, tell them a map would be helpful or that they need directions.

I vote for these ones. In the group I'm in these tend to come up more often than the other things I've seen mentioned. We may not have the most intelligent players... The 6 and 7 above go hand in hand though. Often things are either "not obvious enough" or "HE MENTIONED THAT THING TWICE IT MUST BE WHAT WE'RE SUPPOSED TO DO." Sometimes I think our DM's caught on and he just messes with us by casually mentioning the same places and plot hooks more often than strictly necessary.

Experience will obviously help you know what to expect and just be able to whip things out of nowhere (or... you know, the DM Guide) but that's what you're here looking for help with. I guess another good suggestion might be "READ THE DUNGEON MASTER GUIDE" and know it. Get familiar with the index and/or where things are so you can look things up if you need to. Don't be too scared of your players "breaking" your story. It's their story too, after all.

[Neonivek]

... and if the party has no one capable of stealth or lockpicking?

Then he doesn't have the skills or tools to break someone out of jail.

Don't be too scared of your players "breaking" your story. It's their story too, after all

It is also just as important that you not be too scared to break your own story.

Remember the Players do not get to look over your shoulder and read the individual plot you set forth. So if the players do something entirely wonky, change your own plot.

If the way the players are playing makes certain villains make more sense, use them instead (For example if the players constantly break people out of jail... Use some Lawkeepers instead of that Lich you were planning on)

[nenjin]

I can plan for contingencies all I want, but the things my players come up with manage to surprise me on a fairly regular basis. I can handle it ok, but that's because half of my DMing is winging it anyway. But a group of highly creative people beats the imagination of a single creative person anytime.

That's basically my feeling. I look at your list Neon and while it addresses the types of things players might do, it doesn't actually address the specific things they will do. You can't really plan around your players like that, unless they're very new. The devil is in the details, not in the broad outlines.

Instead of trying to plan contingencies (which are based on your imagination, not theirs), I'd advise just knowing your own world very well, so you can draw on that knowledge quickly to invent characters, events and locations quickly at the table. (And yes, a dungeon or two to spare never hurts either.)

There is truly more joy to be found pulling a scenario from betwixt your cheeks, and having your players think you planned it, than having your players take one of the paths you actually planned. You don't feel nearly so clever as when you wing it and it totally sticks in the player's heads.

Also, I guess, commit to letting the story go where it may, including letting the players die. I still waffle on this one, occasionally, usually by fudging dice.

[Mephansteras]

I once had a party randomly decide to break someone out of jail when they entered a town

Sneak check, pick locks check, then another sneak check. Against DC: 25, then a DC: 35, Then a DC: 30

Done.

No surprise there, they are doing a "side excursion" of unimportance.

Why unimportant? because if he succeeds he gains nothing, it doesn't advance personal plot or world plot, and only if he fails does it become important.

Now if all the PCs decided to storm the town and take it for themselves...

And...you just made my point. The DM needs to be able to handle situations like this easily without getting overwhelmed. The fact that you expect the players to do random side excursions is simply expecting the players to do the unexpected.

The fact that you aren't surprised is just experience talking. Regardless of any level of surprise you may have, the DM has to be able to handle situations like that. You can't possibly prepare ahead of time for every single thing the players could do, so have to be able to wing it when they do stuff that isn't part of your prepared session.

I've seen quite a few new DMs get overwhelmed when players try stuff like this and either try way to hard to railroad them back to the prepared adventure or just sort of flail around and take forever trying to adapt to where the adventure is going. You need to be able to adapt to things like this and, preferably, get the adventure back on track when the side excursion is done.

[Neonivek]

The devil is in the details, not in the broad outlines.

If you boil away the unimportant details you get very broad actions players will do. You certainly can build them up with fluff and string but they are usually a very broad action.

"I get something"
"I do something illegal"
"I look for something"

And...you just made my point. The DM needs to be able to handle situations like this easily without getting overwhelmed. The fact that you expect the players to do random side excursions is simply expecting the players to do the unexpected.

The fact that you aren't surprised is just experience talking. Regardless of any level of surprise you may have, the DM has to be able to handle situations like that. You can't possibly prepare ahead of time for every single thing the players could do, so have to be able to wing it when they do stuff that isn't part of your prepared session.

I've seen quite a few new DMs get overwhelmed when players try stuff like this and either try way to hard to railroad them back to the prepared adventure or just sort of flail around and take forever trying to adapt to where the adventure is going. You need to be able to adapt to things like this and, preferably, get the adventure back on track when the side excursion is done.

Well it is that you don't HAVE to make everything a big deal.

If you don't have the tools to handle it, don't make it a big deal.

If you don't want to run a jail adventure, don't sidetrack the game for the person in jail. (Mind you, if this happened close to the end of the game, you COULD in fact surprise them next game with a huge jail adventure).

Also I forgot... you also need to plan for the players asking for more or less rewards, trying to get more or less cash.