Session Design Diary - 05B

Hi, my name is fba827 and I'm a D&D-holic....

Do you know how I know this?

Last night I actually had a dream that I was sitting at the game table, with the group, and we were playing my campaign.

This is weird for several reasons ....

1) I actually had a dream about playing a game. Really, I normally have other things to dream about.

2) Even if I didn't have a dream about what I normally dream about, was D&D and my game group really that persistent in my mind that I had to dream about them (and not one of millions of other possibilities?)

3) Perhaps scariest of all, in my dream, I was explaining the backstory to a certain plot element. And you know what, it was a backstory I had never thought of before and it actually works perfectly in filling a campaign-void that was previously unaccounted for, historically.

So not only did I not have a dream related to my normal dream topics, my dream was about D&D, and my dream actually gave me something I will end up using in my campaign (should the PCs ever follow that particular plot hook). I feel sick and dirty.

I feel bad about inequitable player-centered sidetreks.

So far, I have open possibilities (should the PCs ever follow it) for the PCs to stumble on adventures that somewhat center around them (or their PCs background). However, for one of the PCs, I have around 5*6 potential things that could happen centered around him. For others, I have 2-3. And for one PC, I can only think of 1, and that one is stretching it.

Now, it is true, player type is a factor here in that some players would enjoy that sort of attention to their individual PC's backstory and others wouldn't. But at the same time, I want to avoid heavy focus on that one particular PC who could (potentially) steal a large portion of the focus.

Ah well, maybe I will have more dreams about my campaign that will give me previously unconsidered ideas

What's a DM to do when there is the possibility of the group getting split?

While I can't say it will happen -- since I have left the choices entirely in the hands of the PCs, based on things that were said at the last game, it is possible that the players are going to trigger a certain event that could potentially separate them.

Note there are lots of 'maybes' involved (maybe they will do action A, and if they do maybe they will get separated) so nothing is certain. But I have to think about how to handle it if they do get separated.

1) I could hand-wave it by DM fiat and say PC A had a moment of hesitation while PC B had some inner spark ignited thus causing result C which benefits everyone in to staying together despite the effects of the triggered event

2) I could have the players make temp PCs, that way, in each of the two subgroups, the players would either have their own PC or their temp PC - allowing them to still participate as we switch from group to group. The trick here will be to try and give equal focus to both subgroups (which may be hard depending on what they do, but it's the goal none the less). I'd probably also have them use the quick and dirty NPC creation guidelines so that we're able to make the temp PCs quickly and also so that they don't feel "overly attached" with lots of effort for a character that won't necessarily be around long.

3) I could randomly (dice roll) between choice 1 and 2.....

4) I could ask the players ahead of time "if something were to happen to cause a nonlethal inconvenience to one or more of you, would you rather I hand-waved it, or would you like to just play it out" (still trying to figure out exact wording, but something along those lines)

5) I could have all the players bring a "back up PC just in case" and then use these back up PCs in place of the temp PCs mentioned in option 2. But I am not sure that would work well for my players... at least one is not a fan of trying out new characters. some would be annoyed if they put in the effort for the backup PC but it never got used. some would obsess over every detail and background, but I wouldn't want to get too involved in the background given the fact I don't want to say how or where these backups would be used as it would spoil the trigger-event. So I'm not sure this would be a good idea ...

6) I could just let it play out, in split groups, without the use of temp PCs. Though I would only do this option if I had reason to believe they would get back together soon...

7) Some variation / combination of the above choices... such as, if they end up in a 4-1 split, I'd have the single player make a temp PC for the group of 4 and give a lot of focus on that. And then take the single player aside later and and just do a quick narrative to catch his PC up ....

arg, who knows. Way too many possibilities here and all based on "What ifs...."

I am anxious to see what the PCs do

Since I never know where the PCs will decide to go, or what plot hooks they will follow, I have lots and lots of random story ideas floating around in my head (and in notes).

Some of them are location triggered (If they go to spot X, then Y will happen). Some of them are time triggered (On campaign calendar date X and time Y, Z will happen). Others still are people-triggered. (If NPC X sees player Y for the first time, then Z will happen). Of course, there are a couple variations to all that, or somethings might be dependent on two things (like a location and a time)

But my point in saying all that, I have so much floating around in my head on this. And, based on things previously said last session, it is possible the PCs will trigger an event that will reveal a major plot point (allowing me to be a lot freer in how much I tell the players and giving them something else to focus on).

Plus, they just did a major thing to one of their enemies. Thus, the enemy no longer will view them as an annoyance but rather as a threat that he must deal with.... (they are no longer the flea, but instead are now the dog withe rabies that he plans to shoot).