You guys are being nice. I mean, I'm a nice guy and all. But this article is so general that even the newest DM on earth will find nothing to sink his teeth in, really.
This is like, "to build a world, start with a map. No, start with a
rough map." *squints eyes* Ohhhh... a
rough map... Good idea!
What's the content?
- start with a rough map.
- have some plot hooks ready. Hmm, what's that?
- have some NPCs ready. Wow. Ground-breaking
- use all the senses. Ok, perhaps obvious to many, but I admit that this reminder is not uninteresting. We have four words worth something. Vaguely.
- listen to your players. Need I comment?
If I want some DM advice, it's because I'm a DM and hence all of the above is so obvious that it goes without saying.
What's next? Encounter building? Here's how that would go:
- choose an encounter level
- select monsters that fit that encounter level
- don't forget that these monsters should have some relation to your story or world location.
- give them a reason for being there
...
I liked Chris Perkins' series of articles about his campaign during the 4E era, that included plenty of very crunchy tidbits of advice for DMs. Now
that was useful and inspiring.
This? This is a bunch of high-level statements that everybody knows and has known since day 1 of DMing. And people reading it feel intelligent because they breathe on their fingernails and shine them on their jacket, going, "yeah, I knew that". Then, the author slapped a nice map over his hollow article, to get our attention off this lack of content.
Jerry Seinfeld, back in the '90s when his show was such a hit, was asked to explain how he reached such success. His answer was, more or less:
"When I write a new show, I figure that my audience is intelligent."
I hope for the same. Assume I know
a lot. Then, explain your neat tricks and push me to the next level.
