Love and marriage...

Background:
A rich merchant has built his house up by forging ties through marriage - and keeps doing so. Sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, all and sundry are used for matchmaking attempts. Whenever he meets with someone rich, powerful or both, he tries to marry a relative to them.
Not all of his younger relatives are fond of that practise, even if most go along. Some have taken to develop "eccentrics" in order to drive some suitors off, others actively try to find a "good match" of their own choosing, or try to escape by joining a chruch, or simply running away.

Hooks:
- The PCs can be the target of a marriage proposal themselves, if they look rich or powerful enough, or come from a noble background. Some of the relatives prefer adventurers - they are not often at home, and are likely to get killed while away, leaving the husband or wife with their treasures - and so are quite persistent. Maybe, if the culture differs enough, or the PCs drunk enough, the PCs accidentally marry, or at least engage.
- A PC might be proposed to enter a fake marriage as a means of a relative to get away.
- The merchant has fierce rivals. Just the threat of an alliance by marriage to the PCs prompts hostile action - assassins target either party.
- The family is cursed, each generation the curse strikes one member - by blood or marriage.
- The PCs are hired to bring a bride/groom-to-be to his/her fiancé(e). Said relative wants to avoid the marriage though, promising anything to get away. If there's a paladin the relative wants to join the church, if there's a greedy rogue the relative proposes to rob the family blind and run away.
- It is discovered that one of the PCs is a relative of the merchant, and he/she was/gets promised to marry a member of a rich noble house - and the future mate seeks the PC out, pursued by rivals, and assassins from feuding families.

Locations:
- Merchant Mansion


Straight to the point

Background:
There's a tribe of evil orcs raiding the lands of a noble family. The family recently lost a lot of their men-at-arms and the family head in a war, and needs help defeating the orcs - which is why the orcs picked the fiefdom in the first place. That's all there is to it. The half-orc leader of the tribe grew up among humans though, and is very cunning. If faced with a band of adventurers too strong to kill he'll spin some yarn with the best of them just to get away.
"The humans stole some holy statue from the orcs, and now they can't find peace in the afterlife until they get it back."
"The humans massacred the tribe's women and children (who are actually in the mountains, away from the raiding party)"
"Humans started it, and drove them from their fields, now they need to raid to feed their children."
"The noble family kidnapped the human bride of the leader for evil, necromantic purposes - a member of a rival noble family told the poor half-orc so. They need to fight to save her."
Nothing is true, all are lies designed to get the adventurers to spare the orcs and get busy with the nobles while the orcs flee.

Hooks:
- The PCs are hired by the nobles, or stumble upon a raid of orcs.

Locations:
- Orc lair
- Orc tribe hide out
- Noble's castle
- Villages, Inn and a mine.

Fenes

For every problem a DM has, there is the perfect solution - elegant, intuitive, adding to the game experience, and allowing the players as much freedom of choice as possible. However, finding that perfect solution, especially on the spot, can be hard, and produce a lot of imperfect solutions instead, that do create more problems than they solve - especially if the DM is going for the perfect, elegant solution, and player/PC reactions start to escalate.

In such situations, DMing can be enhanced a lot by a not spurning the quick and easy solutions. That doesn't mean that one should always pick the easy route, but in a pinch, it's often better not to complicate things needlessly, as long as all are on the same page, and want the game to go on.

If your party suffered a PC death, and you need to integrate the new PC, you don't need to spend too much time on this - or have the player wait "until an opportunity presents itself" - unless you wish it. Even in the middle of a dungeon a PC can appear out of thin air - literally, in some cases, if there are telport traps. Could be captured, could be fighting the same foes, or carrying a message to the party. And a quick "you know him from before", coupled with a few retroactively inserted reasons to trust the new PC ("Parents worked together" "grew up together" "guarded a caravan together" "Same temple/school/academy class" goes a long way to keep the game going, and avoid stalls and pitfalls, such as the new PC getting told to get lost after a few gaffes. (Provided, of course, that your players do not like to play through such "pitfalls".)

Sometimes a group has trouble finding a reason to "accept a quest" even if all the players want to follow up on such an adventure hook because it's not really in character for the PCs. That can lead to frustration, and could be easily solved by the quick if heavy-handed approach "You've got a dream, which you can recognise as a divine vision, that ..." or "the poor farmer sees you're not going to risk your life for goodness alone, and digs out his uncles old ... to offer as a reward. He'd have really liked to keep it, but survival comes first." or "the poor farmer promises to pay you a reward, stating that he'll have his daughter accpet the marriage proposal from a rich neighbor".

If you need a PC raised, and no cleric of high enough level is available, you can come up with lots of plots and side quests, and have the player of the currently dead PC play an NPC, or another PC, etc. etc. Very fun if it works. But at times, it'd be better for everyone's enjoyment of the game if the party just stumbled upon a hermit cleric, or travelling bishop, or a similar deus ex machina, and the player can return to play his favorite PC without the party having to travel back to the capital (leaving the threat unsolved) or continuing without the dead PC (because that's what they would do to save the country/world).

This goes beyond IC solutions as well. If you're not ready yet for the party's arrival in a town, it can be better to simply tell the players so, and have them follow a detour willingly, instead of trying to trick them into a side quest when they really want to get to that town.

So, don't be afraid to use such "cheap" solutions - if they work, and keep your game fun for everyone involved, then they are a good choice.

Fenes

The Sword of Kings

Background:
In a distant realm, the "Sword of Kings", the magical blade of the royal line, carried by the crown prince, was stolen. Passing through many hands, including a few unscrupoulos travelling merchants, it arrived in a large toen/metropolis, where it is to be sold at an auction of magical, unique or luxury items.
The King of the realm has his men investigating the theft, and they traced it to a hapless merchant who had bought and re-sold it unknowingly, and is now facing execution for his part in this crime. His son, an adventurer, is desperately trying to recover the sword to gain a royal pardon for his father.
The crown prince himself is also looking for the blade, bent on personally recovering it to wash the stain on his honot (for losing it in the first place) away.
His half-sister, meanwhile, has sent a few trusted agents to swap the blade for a (deadly) cursed look-alike, to make it appear as if the blade judged the crown prince unworthy to become king so she can take his place as the heir.
Another group just wants the sword to blackmail the royal line - or to strike a blow against the monarchy, undermining the people's faith in their king.
All try their best to get the blade - through all means neccessary.

Hooks:
The adventurers could, if flush with treasure, buy the sword at the auction without knowing what it is - the auction house made up some story about a dragon's hoard - and then be later approached, maybe after a long chase, by the various people interested in it. That includes attempt to steal it, bribe them, replace it, rob it, or try to bully them into handing it over or promise them great treasures for giving it.
The adventurers could be the prince's bodyguard, hired to protect him on his long journey (and make a man out of the arrogant, yet inexperienced boy in the process).
The adventurers could be friends of the son of the merchant (or one of them could be the son himself) trying to recover the sword.
The adventurers could be hired by the half-sister, either knowingly, or as stooges with a sob-story.
The adventurers could be - if they oppose the royal line, maybe working for the "true king" or the "people" or the oligarchy of merchants that was before - trying to get the sword, and kill the prince in the process.

Locations:
Auction house with various defenses


The prince is a pauper

Background:
In a city state/capital, there was a bloody coup, and all the royals were killed. All but the youngest prince, which the court mage, before his death, managed to polymorph into a young boy, and implanted fake memories as well as protection from scrying, passing the detect-thoughts-enhanced search of the rebels.
Now the boy is struggling to survive on the city streets, trying to find his mother - the mother his fake memories invented - which he thinks is in a noble's mansion, held captive. He has dreams, strange dreams, during which he is a rich prince, but everyone has those dreams as boy, right?
The rebel leader, meanwhile, consorting with his fiendish ally, wants the last threat to hi reign disposed of.
To restore the boy to his true form and mind as a young man one needs a high-level dispel magic, or the prepared counter spell from the dead court mage - to be found either in his notes ransacked by the rebels and stored in the palace, or in his tower which was transplanted into the astral realm upon his death, or by talking with his spirit in the realm of the dead.

Hooks:
The adventurers can stumble upon the starving boy, or see him steal a bread, and getting caught, hear his story, and may decide to help finding his mother, which might tip them off once they see it's a fake memory (the enchantment is growing weaker over time as well).
The adventurers might be hired by a distant relative with visions to save the prince, or hired by the rebels to track down "the last spawn of the tyrant, which killed young people for his amusement, protected by the king" (or whatever other story makes them hunt a boy).

Locations:
"Nest": Abandoned building in the slums, run by a few older kids, and home to many of the street kids. Targetted by a ghoul, which has started hunting them.
Noble Mansion where the "Pauper" believes his mother is held prisoner. There is actually a young woman imprisoned there, either a mad relative hidden from public, or a thief caught by the guards, or the daughter of a merchant the noble wants to force into a marriage.
Royal Palace: Dungeons, ballrooms, bed chambers, hidden passages, towers, secret doors, lurking ghosts of the recently slain, and vengeful spirit dragging lone rebel guards to their deaths at midnight.

Fenes

Twisted curse

Background:
A thief broke into a wizards tower, trying to steal some valuables. Not having any spellcraft skill worth of note, (perhaps using some dust that glitters when touching magic, or just appraise), the thief took a powerful magic item - which cursed the thief with "Polymorph: Wolf". The thief's on the run now, believing it a trap of the wizard, and looking for a way to get cured.
Unfortunately, the item is even more powerful than the thief imagined - it causes lycantrophy as well, the victim of a polymorph spell gaining control of the shapechanging, and the lycantrophy taking effect, once he or she kills a sentient being as a wolf.
The wizard was trying to study the item, and learn how to cure its victims when the item was stolen, and is now searching for it - but he can't find it with scry until the polymorph is undone. He's still looking for it though.
Also looking for the item is a "wolf pack" of lycantrophs - the item's earlier victims, led by a ranger. They have been stalking the area for the item, tracking down the adventurer that delivered it to the wizard, and killed him. They haven't been able to breach the defenses of the wizard's tower though - the wizard increased them after the thief got away. The wolf pack has been killing several peasants and travelers, and is holding a few people prisoner which they want to turn into werewolves once they get the item - among them the son of the local noble.

Hooks:
The party can encounter the "wolfed" thief in the woods, and if they discern its intentions may help the thief with dispel magic. The thief may tell them a sob story about an evil wizard, trying to get them to help getting away, which might make the encounter with the wizard, once he tracks them down, more interesting. Rumors of the missing people, and lycantrophs, might make them suspiscious of the wolf though, and if they kill it they find the magic item - and get chased by the wolfpack and the wizard.
Alternatively they might have been hired to look into the missing people, or the dead adventurer, or get hired by the wizard to track down the thief.
Or the adventurers might stumble upon the massacred retainers of the noble's heir, and may be mistaken for their killers, or get asked by a survivor to help them rescue the kidnapped noble.

Locations:
Wizard tower in the woods - standard build, but with more protective magics after the break in.
Lair: Cave where the wolf pack keeps their prisoners, hidden behind a waterfall. The prisoners are tied up, and in bad shape.
Village with inn, where the adventurer was killed. large stable, where a horse was also killed and partially eaten.
Hunting lodge, where the son of the noble was taken, and his retainers killed.
Merchant wagon, traces of a battle, all animals and people dragged away to a stream. Difficult, but not impossible to track to the lair.

Fenes

More ideas and blurps for encounters, scenes and adventures:

Kidnapping Plot:

Background:
In a town, a group of organised criminals kidnap the sons and daughters of rich families, and release them for ransom. The experiences of the kidnapping victims are traumatising, despite big ransoms being paid.
Unknown to the families, the true plan of the criminals goes further: They are/work with dopplegangers, and replace the victims with dopplegangers, which are then ransomed. The long term goal is to either take over the infiltrated families (by engineering the death of the heads, so the doppleganger scions can take over) or drain their fortune (and possibly have a controlled family take over).
The kidnapping victims - waste not, want not - are sold off to interested parties, possibly slavers from far away countries or even other planes, or the clichee necromancer/cultist with a need for sacrifices.

Hook:
Adventurers can be hired as bodyguards, or to track down and rescue kidnapping victims, or to kill the criminals.
Alternatively, the adventurers might rescue a victim sold into slavery, and discover that the victim supposedly was freed long ago (though this might make the plot too easy).

Locations:
Secret cellar with a tunel to the sea for smuggling under an inn in town, where the victims can be kept until sold off.
Bandit camp for the kidnappers in the wood.
Main Headquarters, with the leader and his allies, and a gate to their patron god/devil/demon (if such exist).


Double-Cross:

Background:
The crown princess of a (small) realm, headstrong if a bit naive, arrives in a seedy metropolis, "Incognito", just in the company of trusted bodyguards and retainers, to look for her half-brother, which has been kidnapped by a rich noble/merchant.
Unknown to her, this is actually a plot by her brother with said merchant, to get rid of her and become the crown prince. Once the princess guards and other ways to defend herself are known, the trap is sprung and the princess taken captive.
Unknown to the treacherous prince, his co-conspirator won't be killing the princess as planned, but keeping her as a way to blackmail the prince once he sits on the throne. Alternatively, he plans to sell her to a neighboring kingdom whose dynasty wants to marry their heir to her and take over both Realms - if needed, the deal will be camouflaged as a heroic rescue by the crown prince, who "saves" (maybe even without knowing about the plan, thinking it's a real rescue, deceived by his parents) the princess, which will hopefully fall in love with him (or get impressed enough to marry him, and to get her realm back.)

Hooks:
The adventurers can be the retainers, additional guards hired by a retainer, hired by the king and queen to get the princess back, just stumble on the whole affair when brekaing into the merchant's house to free someone else/get an item back, or be hired by the rival kingdom to help the "heroic" prince with his rescue.

Locations:
Merchant mansion, Inn where the princess stays.

Fenes

Contrary to the more linear (or direct) Dungeon Crawls, running a game with betrayal and plots takes a different yet similar approach, but can be very rewarding and as challenging or more challenging than the best dungeon crawl.

First, to run a good plots-heavy adventure, one needs an appropriate setting. Usually, but not always that's a city, or a court, a fair, or a trade meeting - a place where different factions, groups and individuals gather and don't kill each other openly.

Next, one needs the "movers and shakers" - the NPCs, individuals and groups that are behind the plotting - and their goals, means, motivations and relationship to each other. Those can be simple or complex.

"The Wesir wants to become caliph.
He has a few personal servants, among them an assassin he magically bound to his service, his personal fortune, and knows a number of dark secrets about the nobles of the realm to blackmail them.
He wants to become caliph since the new caliph, young and spoiled, will ruin the realm in his opinion, and cause great suffering.
The caliph dislikes him since he was the trusted right hand of the father of the caliph, but trusts him to have the interests of the realm at heart. The nobility is split between the older families who like the wesir, and the syophantic newcomers who curry favor with the caliph, and dislike the wesir's policies. The population has been enjoying the "bread and circusses" policy of the new caliph and remembers the wesir as a strict, and miserly governor."

"The Caliph wants to get rid of his Wesir.
He can't just dismiss him, since that would cause trouble with the older nobility, and he doesn't want to kill the wesir since that might show a weakness ("he can't find the murder/protect his trusted allies, he is weak"), or taint his reputation ("He got the Wesir killed, how ungrateful. He is a tyrant"). He does control the treasury though, and can "buy" the population and the nobility that supports him by granting favors and privileges, and providing "bread and circusses", until the Wesir is weakened, and his own position more secure, so the wesir can "retire".
The wesir considers him a spoiled caliph, and ruining the realm. The nobility is split between syccophants supporting him, and older families supporting the wesir, who stands for the policies of the former caliph. The population loves the caliph. The new religious leader supports the caliph.

The new religious leader wants the wesir gone and the caliph isolated.
He has access to his churches' priests, as well as a secret cult of assassins, and the support from his patron, a devil.
He wants the wesir gone and the caliph under his iinfluence so his church can take over the realm after a devil possesses the caliph or the caliph has become a follower of the devil.
THe new religion is not yet accepted by the population, but tolerated, although the lower classes and some of the new nobility embrace it.

Once that is laid out, the DM can think of possible actions and reactions the different groups and individuals would take, and how the PCs would figure into it. Getting the PCs involved is the most important part, since how they get involved defines the adventure. They can get hired to investigate a seemingly minor or major event by any party or even an outsider. They can arrive as trade envoy escorts, and end up framed for the murder of the envoy, having to prove their innocence. They could try to get a favor from the caliph, and start to meddle in politics. They could be part of the old or new nobility, or tied to old religion, or get fooled into doing some dirty deeds by a henchman of any party. Part of this is also picking some scenes that may happen when the PCs are present, and actions that are tried by the different groups.

Once this is cleared, the "chaff" is picked - the plots and scenes not related to the main plots, which add flavor, red herrings, and side quests as the PCs try to get to the core of the adventure.
The lieing servant they follow around after having seen her in the night checking doors may not be lieing for a plotter, but to protect her daughter who's having an affair with a soldier and prepares to elope before the caliph notices her and wants her in his harem.
The new noble bribing people is just trying to get a favor for his home region. The old noble looking for an assassin is not after the wesir or the caliph, but wants to avenge the death of his son a few years ago at the hand of a duellist bravo, and just happened to talk to the guild that also does the wesir's dirty deeds.

Once that is done you have a weave of NPCs, relations, possible scenes and actions. Now comes the main part, running it.
Some may want to run it like a dungeon, with scenes linked by actions instead of rooms linked by doors. I prefer a more flexible approach by focusing on the PCs, and running them into scenes depending on what they do and where they are, mixing "chaff" and "core" scenes as I deem best.
If the PCs arrive in the city after a Dungeon Crawl and carouse in seedy taverns I might have an agent of the Wesir approach them, looking for some discrete people for a discrete task - or fools to frame for an assassination. Or the mentioned noble wants to hire them to avenge his son. Or they just happen upon the daughter of the servant, running from the palace fearing for her virtue. Or they save a friend of the caliph from robbers - actually disgusied assassins - and are brought to the court as heroes, causing all plotters to revise their plans and trying to take advantage of their presence, and themselves.
From how the PCs handle themselves, I then decide how the rest of the world reacts, and create new scenes, if needed.

If all works out you'll have multiple sessions filled with action and plots, linked together by true and false clues, ending with a climax when the big plot is exposed and foiled, and possibly some open ends left dangling, ready to be taken up or expanded later - or continued straight on.

It's less episodic, and there will be less downtime between "adventures" until the location of the plotting is left by the PCs, or all plots have been solved, which is unlikely, so it may not be to the taste of every group.

But for those who like this sort of games, it's much more rewarding than more linear, more straightforward plots.

Fenes

Charm Person is one of the spells that often lead to trouble at the gaming table. Used by PCs, it can cause a lot of problems to some DMs, used by an NPC it can cause a lot of frustration for the players. The main cause is, in my opinion, a misunderstanding of the spell.

Charm Person is often mistaken for something else, like dominate person. The charmed character is expected to switch sides in combat, and to attack its former friends without mercy.

But that's not what Charm Person does. Charm Person doesn't make anyone hate their friends - all it does is making the caster the new best friend of the character that was charmed, and making him consider the new friends actions in the best light possible. The other characters are still seen in the same light - friends, allies, lovers, etc.

As a DM, I tell players always this: It's your best friend. That's all. What do you do?

The answer depends on the character. In the case of the charmer and the rest of the PCs fighting, many characters will try to prevent harm to any of their friends, they won't mindlessly attack their friends, much less kill them. (Of course, if a character, for example an evil NPC, doesn't have friends other than the charmer, just disposable allies, killing them is not unlikely to save its only friend.) For not too few, restraining their "best friend" from attacking the others, who might kill him "in self-defense" is a valid choice - especially if they acted in a similar way with their real friends before, like knocking out a hotheaded character before he attacked a noble, for example.

For non-combat situations, one has to remember that some things a character would not do, not even for a best friend. A secret that a character didn't even tell their "former" best friends is unlikely to be spilled to the new best friend. Nor is betraying an oath likely if the character wouldn't do that for anyone - charm person doesn't change a character's character, it just adds a new best friend.
(Barring persuasive talking and other forms of influence, of course - charm person is a great help with that.)

In conclusion, simply telling people that "the charmer becomes your friend, everything else, including your views of others and your character stays the same" avoids a lot of the troubles charm person can cause.

Fenes

DMs are often faced with the question whether or not they should house rule something. That maybe be an entire subsystem like magic, or a rule, like grappling, or something a lot more specific, like the amount of skill points for a class, or the prequisites for a prestige class.

I think that often, DMs are caught in "system thinking", and approach all house rules with the same view - as general, wide spread and lasting changes. That's good when house ruling entire subsystems. If one replaces vancian magic/encounter powers with a drain-based system it affects the whole campaign, maybe the whole setting. Such house rules need to be thought through, and tested for unforeseen consequences.

However, when dealing with the "exceptional" house rules, this may be less than optimal. If a player just wants something changed so he can do something with his character - enter a prestige class or get some daily power from another class without spending the feat - then there's often no need to create a new subsystem for that. Instead one can get good results by treating the wish of the player as exactly what it is - a wish for an exception to the rules without changing the rules.

In such cases, the DM (provided he agrees with the change) has a lot less troubles if he simply allows what's wanted as an exception. If the party fighter's player would want his PC to be able to cast fireball 1/day, then all that's needed is to consider if the results of this exact change are unbalancing or harming the game. One doesn't need to consider other hypothetical changes and their effects if the players understand that just because Bob the fighter (and only this PC, not every fighter) may be able to cast fireball (for whatever fluff reason all are ok with) doesn't mean Jack the Wizard can get healing spells.

I would also advise to run such exceptions by the players of the campaign the PC is in, to see if all are ok with it. It may be prompting similar wishes from the other players, which can be dealt with at the same occasion, and in the end, everyone may be a bit more happy with the game thanks to the added flexibilty, without the DM having to add an entire new house rule that may lead to broken combos and maybe more house rules - since Bill the Better Fighter might be unbalanced by the ability to cast fireball, while Bob wasn't.

So, by treating some exceptions as what they are - exceptions, not general changes of rules - a campaign often can be customised to be more fun without too much work, or too many issues. And without those exceptions, being limited to the specific PCs they were allowed for, carrying over into the next campaign, or to the next PC.

Fenes

In a town, or at a faire:

A young woman is running from several men who chase her. She's the daughter of a wealthy merchant who wants to elope with her lover, a travelling performer, which she met at the games. The lover himself though just wants to use her to scout out her father's mansion to burglarize it later with his thief friends. He is pursued by bounty hunters from the last country he pulled this trick, which are to bring him back so he can wed the expecting daughter of the mayor he seduced there.

An acrobat is awing the crowd with daring balance acts supported by illusions from a mage. Pickpockets use this to fleece the crowd.

An impressionable and not too bright teenager hounds everyone with exotic looks to try to get them to apprentice him for a career as adventurer. He'll be picked up by some shady mercenary who needs expendable spear fodder to "guard" a scion of a noble family during his trip to his fiancee. The mercenary was paid by a rival family to leave them in the wilderness, where "orc marauders" will kill them all. To that end the mercenary doesn't hire any competent fighter, just greenhorns and similar people, which an experienced adventurer may pick up.

A young maid is accused of having stolen from a stall - the stall owner's assistant had been skimming the earnings, and needed a scapegoat.

A bard looking for more material for ballads is asking the party about their fight with the dragon. He/she is asking a bit too much details (and may even attempt to seduce a party member). In reality, the bard is working for an organisation wanting the get their hands on the treasure the party recently acquired.

A courtesan is trying to drain the party's more impressionable men of much of their new funds. She might try to pull the "attacked by thieves, and saved by the hero, but left penniless" scam.

Fenes

One of my "DM rules" is to not show the NPC's power or level unless I absolutely have to. The PCs may hear of the reputation and deeds of NPCs, but not in a way that the players could reverse-engineer the NPC's level. I also tell my players straight away that whatever is written in the campaign setting doesn't have to be true in my campaign - especially NPC levels. I present NPCs by description only, and do not push mechanics and stats on the players if I can help it.

I do this mainly for two reasons.

First, I don't want players to feel sidelined by NPCs. I have suffered through games where the DMs ran big battles, rolling for their NPC heroes and for the enemies, and half the party literally was not allowed to even take part in the battle, but forced to watch it through a scrying mirror. I have played in a game where the DM rolled for 7 tricked out NPCs in a fight against dozens of orcs, commenting each strike and damage. PCs didn't really matter there at all. Not that the fight mattered anyway - it was just a vehicle to show off 7 NPCs.

As a roleplayer, my fun is non-existent if there is no plausible reason why my PC's action would matter and is basically busy work. If the DM is showing off his pet NPC, and in a manner that everyone of us knows that the NPC has access to this and that spells, and we have the important task to "take out the second leader to the left", and we know that the NPC could just wipe the enemy's left wing off the earth with a spell from the staff he carries, then what fun is there to be had? Immersion's nuked, and combat doesn't matter, so why bother?

Second, knowing an NPC's stats can lead to players trying to run the NPC, or armchair-quarterback it ("If it's a level 18 wizard, why doesn't he simply cast..." "With X Spell and Y item he could do this, and then that, and we do not need to do Z"). Needless to say, this can lead to trouble in a group.

Of course, there are ways to handle the sidelining/overshadowing problem. The NPC could be busy, buried in red tape, dealing with another problem, etc. However with the scope of the threats the PCs face, sooner or later the players will be asking why even such a crisis won't cause the NPC(s) to act, why they haven't some assistants who can take over the red tape for a day or three, etc..
Immersion takes another hit in such cases, and even if there is a perfectly fine reason for the NPC's inaction. It may hold the game up and cause strife if the players do not understand, or do not agree with the NPCs priorities - doubly so if they correctly suspect that those are just excuses to have the party do something the NPC could do faster and more easily. When this gets coupled with armchair-quarterbacking the results can be downright nasty - the DM arguing why a certain tactic or spell wouldn't work, to explain why the NPC won't try it, and the players stating why it should be tried, and poisoning the whole encounter from the start.

And even if that's not the case - the common "the archwizard has to deal with far worse problems!" reason - it doesn't help the campaign or the players' fun. Not many players like to hear "and while you were dealing with the goblin threat to Noonecaresabouttown, UberPaladin held back the hordes of hellgate and ArchWizardBob defeated the invasion from NecroCountry. Good job, folks, you did as well as the other three groups of heroes-in-training active in your area" after an adventure.

That's why I prefer not to show players that ruler X is a high-level whatever, or display the NPCs in ways that let players know their stats and powers. As a player, I am not interested at all in knowing how many hit points King Conan has, how much damage he does with power attack, how much damage he can shrug off and what his AC is. The DM can just tell me it's a warrior so impressive my characters knees might shake a bit, known and famous throughout the land. That way, I can assume that whatever threat we end up dealing with, political or social or combat, actually was a threat, and not something Conan could have dealt with if he had skipped his meeting with the baker's guild this evening.

It's even worse if the PCs end up fighting at Conan's side. I don't need to hear all the mechanical details, all the "and this is a really powerful NPC, I used this and that power, so you know he's really that more powerful than you, and could kill all the foes, but yes, we still need you, really, promise".

It's enough to just tell me he cleaves through enemies. Could be 4E minions, could be bosses, I don't know, and so my immersion is not ruined by the knowledge that the foes we fight do not present any danger because the NPC could handle the entire army by itself according to the rules because I can assume that the NPC is not that strong.

In short, I don't want my nose rubbed into the fact that all my character manages to do is saving a bit of time for the NPC so he can do something else, something much more important - like dealing with paperwork. I prefer the illusion of my PC's deeds mattering a bit more. Not knowing exact stats and especially levels allows me that.

So, in my campaign, Most of the visible power of an NPC is "Indirect power" - influence, followers, contacts, money, etc. - and not direct combat/magic power. Which means it can be logical that they'd rely on hired help for dangerous work.

Elminster has a big reputation, but he could be a level 5 wizard IMC with good ties to the bardic colleges. The Simbul is powerful - of course she is, she's the Queen of Alagond. And personally defeating dozens of Red Wizards? Of course she did, just as the PCs killing a dozen orcs is lauded as "stemming the tide of the great orc horde" by the town bard. Bards tend to exagerate the enemy's strength in their ballads anyway, so they cannot be relied upon. And players are not asking themselves why said NPC won't simply use spell X or item Y, or simply kill the invading army, instead of sending them on a dangerous mission because they are not sure if the NPC can do such things in the first place.

And as a side benefit it means I don't have to stat out that many powerful NPC seither, which saves preparation time.

Fenes

No, rest your fears - this is not about making the ultimate party-killer NPC and if that is a good or bad thing. This post - and hopefully thread - is about making the most out of your time spent on DMing, or to be more precise, about how to spend the least amount of preparation time (and money) for your campaign. This is for those among us DMs who can't spend hours upon hours on preparing each week anymore yet still demand (and have the players expect) the best of their campaign.

So, here is my take on DMing as a lazy DM:


Check what you have to do

First thing you have to do in order to be able to spend just enough time on your campaign is to take a look at what your players want and like.

If you have no one interested in dungeon crawling then you can drop all that mapping out and outfitting of the ultimate dungeon/cavern system and cancel those orders for the latest meat grinder mega adventure. If you have no player interested in puzzle solving or bypassing/disabling traps, don't spend time on thinking about puzzles and traps. If you have no one interested in intrigue and politics, don't spend hours making up a complex system of checks and balances. If no one really likes extended combat, don't prepare countless encounters.

So, take stock of what your players like, then concentrate on those points and wing the rest.


Start out small, then let it grow

I know, most will assume that buying a campaign setting is much easier than building one, but IMHO, this is not so clear. When you buy a campaign setting you have to read it, and often study it carefully to be able to run it efficiently. When you build something up from scratch odds are you know it better, which means less time spent rereading a book.

No matter if you buy a published campaign setting or build your own homebrew, start small. Concentrate on one region, and flesh it out/read it through so you know how it is supposed to work. Then look where the campaign goes, and keep adding as it is needed. Epic campaigns which are plotted out from the start require lots of work, and lots of adjustments during the campaign, in effect doubling your time spent on it. Much easier to just sketch a rough outline and then detail it as it fits.

This also goes for rules. It is much easier - and better for your mental health - if you don't allow every rule from all d20 books published. Especially if it concerns prestige classes and feats. You will have a much easier time preparing if you don't have to check up on dozens of books each time - much easier on your purse as well. A good rule is to force your players to type anything they want use down and give it to you so you have it handy. So, here as well, start the players with a small choice of extra material, and then add as you feel comfortable with.


Reduce to the essential

NPCs don't need to be statted out, especially at low levels. Odds are, no matter in what role they appear - combat, cannon fodder, services - they will never have to use all their skill points. So you can just use (level+3+X) for their "good" skills, X being stat adjustments and maybe Skill focus, and half that for average skills. During combat you can decide on the fly if your mook has power attack or dodge. To start you only need to know his weapon armor and level. Here you can cheat - if you got a name and a short description the NPC will appear much more "complete" than if it is just a detailed amount of stats and numbers.

Locations do not need to be mapped out either unless your players are compulsory explorers - just keep a basic outline in your head and steer the players to the locations you want them to visit. And if you map them out, don't fret over details - add them as needed during a game. A map only serves to make it easier to imagine the layout of a place, and sometimes to conduct combat easier. It does not have to be a piece of art.

Plots do not need to be detailed that much either - just decide who wants what, and then let the NPCs involved act and react during the campaign. This works for the Epic plot outline as well as for the thief trying to rob a party member.


Make the most of what you do

If you do spend the time on statting out an NPC or mapping out a lair, make sure you can use it as much as possible. Even if the NPC you painstakingly built with classes, feat, skill points and money spent to the last copper does not survive its first combat you can often have an evil necromancer make him into an undead, or an evil cleric raise him, and have another go at the party. Then, drop the description and background, and throw him in your NPC file - a couple levels later the one-man-threat will make a good, detailed set of stats should you need that new NPC statted out on the fly.

Same goes for maps - that one castle you mapped out can be revisited later, many times if you do it right, or can be altered a bit and reused.

Reuse plots and encounters that were not used - and even some that were used, with a twist.

Also make sure you keep track of the NPCs involved in an adventure - not only is it easier to reuse an NPC than build another one from scratch, stats and background and motivation and all, but it also adds to the players' immersion if they do not fight and rescue strangers they never meet again each adventure, but may meet people they know, friends and foes alike, from time to time, sometimes in different roles. Yes, this means, make notes during the game.

Finally, if you have a detailed campaign going, keep it going. Don't restart another campaign in a totally different setting each month. Don't TPK and end it. Milk the campaign for whatever it is worth, and the payoff for any work spent on preparing the region or world will be that much greater.


Wing it when possible

Be ready to open sideplots and twists when the situation allows for it, even if you did not plan for it. If you got a solid framework of stock NPCs, plots and notes you will be able to DM such things on the fly, taking an adventure in directions you did not plan ahead for without stumbling or railroading. The players get into trouble with the watch? Look if you can use this to get them into contact with that thieves guild you had outlined a bit, or as a start up to get them on the track of the corrupt mayor plotting against the king.


Steal, borrow, copy - from others and your players

Many people think you have to do all on your own, or it is cheap, bad or both. This is not true. If you truly want to be the best lazy DM there is you will have to drop false pride and take whatever you can from others. Again, this is about efficient use of your time - if you spend an hour searching the web for a map you could have drawn yourself in 20 minutes you are doing something wrong. This works best if you just keep and open mind, and note down a link when you see something you need (or are pretty sure you will be able to use later).

One of the best sources for tactics to steal from are your players. Look what tactics they use, and what feats, and make notes - what works for them works for you. If one of your players likes to summon monster you will get an insight in the efficient use of monsters, and their capabilities. A little time spent on EN world is also a very good source of tactics - as long as you can stay away from the discussion threads about roll-playing, gender in game and Magic.

Plots and NPCs you can get from anywhere - movies, books, story hours, web files. Don't be shy to adjust, and don't fixate on fantasy. That obnoxious police inspector playing the fool can make an interesting city watch official. Even that soap opera you zapped into by mistake can offer interesting plot twists.

Cultures and traditions you can take from history and contemporary countries as well as books and movies. Just having such an image makes it easier to decide how works the culture, and having such a role model also will enable you to use a fitting name list for your NPCs.


Let others work for you

This does not mean buy stock adventures - I found those are often more trouble than they are worth to adapt to my playing group's style and preference - but mainly, let your players do their part. If you have a player playing a cleric, let him add details to the church, add an order of paladins etc. - you can adjust those as you see fit.

It also works in game. Encourage players to start their own goals and plots, and go with it. Less work for you, both in and out of game.


Keep it all together

Making notes during a game is one thing, but I found that (at least in my case) as important is reviewing those notes, and organising them after the game. When I prepare each session I go through the notes I penned for and during my last game, and write a short synopsis of the game session - adjusting the notes for the NPCs involved, adding new NPCs I made up on the fly to my files, transferring dead NPCs to the "mook stats" file and tallying up what loose ends are left, and what consequences the party faces. Often, most of my preparation is finished after I have done this - hooks and ideas for the next adventures are often already there as a result of this.


Hope this helps a DM with time constraints.

(Originally posted in 2004 in the general forum)

Fenes