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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Enhancing "Curse of Strahd" (and DDAL adventures)
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<blockquote data-quote="Rils" data-source="post: 7128909" data-attributes="member: 78768"><p>It's obvious you've put a lot of thought and creativity into this, which is awesome! However, I'm going to echo [MENTION=40592]hastur_nz[/MENTION]'s comment not to over-plan this. I made that mistake, and wasted hours upon days upon weeks planning out stuff that my players never did anything with. For instance, early on I had them witness the hag trading pastries for a child, and they were appropriately upset about that - but when they got to the windmill and smelled baking pastries, even with the deed to the windmill in hand, they walked right on by. That shot my plans for that night's game, I even had voices ready and everything! And so on and so on. Just about every hook I expected them to take, they didn't. Even up to last game - they have all three artifacts, there's very few loose plot threads left, they have an invitation to dinner with Strahd - and when I conveniently had his coach waiting for them at the crossroads, they walked right on by. No reason, other than to blow Strahd off. That was the end of last game. Now they are going to spend the night in VR's tower and walk to the Castle in the morning. So much for the exciting coach ride I had in mind. </p><p></p><p>There's pages and pages of notes I made which are all for naught, and as the voice of experience, I can say - take it maybe two games at a time. There's nothing wrong with outlining the main story beats, but leave it at that - an outline. Based on what your player's do, plan maybe two games worth of content - one you expect them to do, and the following one for if they skip that. Otherwise, don't get too far ahead of it, as you'll inevitably find yourself constantly re-working things like I did. Save yourself the wasted time. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>And ultimately, it'll inevitably be more fun - because it's the group's story you came up with together, not the DM's story that was bestowed upon the players. Enjoy!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rils, post: 7128909, member: 78768"] It's obvious you've put a lot of thought and creativity into this, which is awesome! However, I'm going to echo [MENTION=40592]hastur_nz[/MENTION]'s comment not to over-plan this. I made that mistake, and wasted hours upon days upon weeks planning out stuff that my players never did anything with. For instance, early on I had them witness the hag trading pastries for a child, and they were appropriately upset about that - but when they got to the windmill and smelled baking pastries, even with the deed to the windmill in hand, they walked right on by. That shot my plans for that night's game, I even had voices ready and everything! And so on and so on. Just about every hook I expected them to take, they didn't. Even up to last game - they have all three artifacts, there's very few loose plot threads left, they have an invitation to dinner with Strahd - and when I conveniently had his coach waiting for them at the crossroads, they walked right on by. No reason, other than to blow Strahd off. That was the end of last game. Now they are going to spend the night in VR's tower and walk to the Castle in the morning. So much for the exciting coach ride I had in mind. There's pages and pages of notes I made which are all for naught, and as the voice of experience, I can say - take it maybe two games at a time. There's nothing wrong with outlining the main story beats, but leave it at that - an outline. Based on what your player's do, plan maybe two games worth of content - one you expect them to do, and the following one for if they skip that. Otherwise, don't get too far ahead of it, as you'll inevitably find yourself constantly re-working things like I did. Save yourself the wasted time. :) And ultimately, it'll inevitably be more fun - because it's the group's story you came up with together, not the DM's story that was bestowed upon the players. Enjoy! [/QUOTE]
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Enhancing "Curse of Strahd" (and DDAL adventures)
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