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Improving as a DM?
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<blockquote data-quote="Rechan" data-source="post: 4743378" data-attributes="member: 54846"><p>Also:</p><p></p><p>7) There is no shame in stealing ideas. </p><p></p><p>Just like as inspiration can be found in many places, so too can <em>awesome</em> ideas whole cloth. Be it from a person here on ENWorld telling about a cool scene/idea/House Rule, to finding something in a published adventure, to taking a character whole-cloth from a book and making them an NPC. </p><p></p><p>8) Reskin, reskin, reskin. I forget if the 4e DMG mentions this, but: any monster, any trap, any PC power can, with just a different description, serve any function. </p><p></p><p>9) Check out older edition stuff. It's cheap, and there are ideas there too. Even 3rd party stuff. You don't have to spend a boat load of cash, and while the rules may not be useful, the ideas are there. My favorite older edition thing to look to is traps, maps, and monster descriptions. There are adventure ideas in there, too; converting is fairly easy. </p><p></p><p>10) Prepare for the Unexpected. There are quite a few DM tricks out there, although some are style dependant. Here's one I've learned. Being a DM is a very challenging thing, because players have this habit of zigging when you planned for them to zag. They can wreck your plot or all your preparation. So, anticipate a zig somewhere, and have something for whenever it crops up. How do you do that?</p><p></p><p>Let's say, your adventure anticipates the party will go to the Caves of Badness, the Fortress of More Badness, and finally the Swamp of SuperBadness.</p><p></p><p>But between Point A to point B, the players might instead go to the Forest of No Badness because they think that's where the plot is. Or, they could turn left instead of right, and end up in the Valley of Nothing Important.</p><p></p><p>If they do this, your options consist of: wing it, or have nothing happen so they get the hint there's ntohing there of interest, and turn around. The former can lead to you grasping for nothing, and the latter can be discouraging because that's Boring. </p><p></p><p>Instead, you anticipate something like this happening. You draw up an encounter with some bandits; their stats, their description, maybe something interesting in the scene like a pit or a giant net rigged, etc. These bandits are totally unrelated to your plot. </p><p></p><p>When your players Zig to the Forest of Non-Badness or the Valley of Nothing Interesting, hit them with the bandits. Then, after they've mopped up the bandits, say "Otherwise you find nothing of interest". So at least they got a fight with some bandits for their efforts of wandering. Or, you could drop some sort of hint or clue that steers them BACK towards one of your three key places, like one of the bandits "Suddenly knowing something" or something like that. </p><p></p><p><strong>Additionally</strong>, the above is not limited to just encounters. And it's not limited to "You went off the path of my plot." You could have something like this prepped for non-combat encounters like meeting an old crone on the road. Or, you could whip it out to throw it at the PCs when they are getting frustrated/bored because they can't find anything (an enemy kicking in the door and attacking livens things up, and you can drop a clue in the enemy's pocket to get them moving again.) </p><p></p><p><strong>Finally</strong>, if you <em>do</em> come up with a cool thing, and the players bypass it without encountering it - don't throw it away. Work it in somewhere else.</p><p></p><p>11) One clue is okay - four is great. When you have a specific clue, your players may completely miss it because again, they zig when you zag. So when you're preparing your adventure, create several clues, and put them in many areas, so that no matter where your PCs go, they'll find a clue. And if they go to several areas, they'll find several clues. The clues don't have to be the same thing, but they <em>still</em> point in a direction that leads to the next thing.</p><p></p><p>For instance, let's say that your PCs are in a big city, and a body from a roof top falls in front of them. The body is a certain race (near that race's little neighborhood). The body:</p><p>1) In his hand, clutched tightly, is a crystal arrowhead.</p><p>2) Has a funny wound with a particular magical residue. </p><p>3) In his pocket is a journal. </p><p>4) There is a tattoo of a blue wyvern on his upper arm.</p><p></p><p>You throw a ton of clues at the PCs; if the PCs ignore the wound and the journal, they could ask "Who makes this crystal arrowhead?" They could do a streetwise check about the tattoo. They could go ask the people in that race's neighborhood if they recognize the guy. </p><p></p><p>There are lots of directions they could take, that will lead them to where they need to go. There's always <em>something</em> they could do, instead of having ONe clue, and not knowing what to do with it.</p><p></p><p>12) A few brief observations I've found that are helpful:</p><p>Players can't read your mind. </p><p>The real trick to being a DM is letting the players win without making it obvious you're letting them win. </p><p>You'll have your darlings killed; your favorite villain will die fast, your great plot will be wrecked by players being players. Accept it in advance, learn to laugh about it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rechan, post: 4743378, member: 54846"] Also: 7) There is no shame in stealing ideas. Just like as inspiration can be found in many places, so too can [I]awesome[/I] ideas whole cloth. Be it from a person here on ENWorld telling about a cool scene/idea/House Rule, to finding something in a published adventure, to taking a character whole-cloth from a book and making them an NPC. 8) Reskin, reskin, reskin. I forget if the 4e DMG mentions this, but: any monster, any trap, any PC power can, with just a different description, serve any function. 9) Check out older edition stuff. It's cheap, and there are ideas there too. Even 3rd party stuff. You don't have to spend a boat load of cash, and while the rules may not be useful, the ideas are there. My favorite older edition thing to look to is traps, maps, and monster descriptions. There are adventure ideas in there, too; converting is fairly easy. 10) Prepare for the Unexpected. There are quite a few DM tricks out there, although some are style dependant. Here's one I've learned. Being a DM is a very challenging thing, because players have this habit of zigging when you planned for them to zag. They can wreck your plot or all your preparation. So, anticipate a zig somewhere, and have something for whenever it crops up. How do you do that? Let's say, your adventure anticipates the party will go to the Caves of Badness, the Fortress of More Badness, and finally the Swamp of SuperBadness. But between Point A to point B, the players might instead go to the Forest of No Badness because they think that's where the plot is. Or, they could turn left instead of right, and end up in the Valley of Nothing Important. If they do this, your options consist of: wing it, or have nothing happen so they get the hint there's ntohing there of interest, and turn around. The former can lead to you grasping for nothing, and the latter can be discouraging because that's Boring. Instead, you anticipate something like this happening. You draw up an encounter with some bandits; their stats, their description, maybe something interesting in the scene like a pit or a giant net rigged, etc. These bandits are totally unrelated to your plot. When your players Zig to the Forest of Non-Badness or the Valley of Nothing Interesting, hit them with the bandits. Then, after they've mopped up the bandits, say "Otherwise you find nothing of interest". So at least they got a fight with some bandits for their efforts of wandering. Or, you could drop some sort of hint or clue that steers them BACK towards one of your three key places, like one of the bandits "Suddenly knowing something" or something like that. [B]Additionally[/B], the above is not limited to just encounters. And it's not limited to "You went off the path of my plot." You could have something like this prepped for non-combat encounters like meeting an old crone on the road. Or, you could whip it out to throw it at the PCs when they are getting frustrated/bored because they can't find anything (an enemy kicking in the door and attacking livens things up, and you can drop a clue in the enemy's pocket to get them moving again.) [b]Finally[/b], if you [i]do[/i] come up with a cool thing, and the players bypass it without encountering it - don't throw it away. Work it in somewhere else. 11) One clue is okay - four is great. When you have a specific clue, your players may completely miss it because again, they zig when you zag. So when you're preparing your adventure, create several clues, and put them in many areas, so that no matter where your PCs go, they'll find a clue. And if they go to several areas, they'll find several clues. The clues don't have to be the same thing, but they [I]still[/I] point in a direction that leads to the next thing. For instance, let's say that your PCs are in a big city, and a body from a roof top falls in front of them. The body is a certain race (near that race's little neighborhood). The body: 1) In his hand, clutched tightly, is a crystal arrowhead. 2) Has a funny wound with a particular magical residue. 3) In his pocket is a journal. 4) There is a tattoo of a blue wyvern on his upper arm. You throw a ton of clues at the PCs; if the PCs ignore the wound and the journal, they could ask "Who makes this crystal arrowhead?" They could do a streetwise check about the tattoo. They could go ask the people in that race's neighborhood if they recognize the guy. There are lots of directions they could take, that will lead them to where they need to go. There's always [I]something[/I] they could do, instead of having ONe clue, and not knowing what to do with it. 12) A few brief observations I've found that are helpful: Players can't read your mind. The real trick to being a DM is letting the players win without making it obvious you're letting them win. You'll have your darlings killed; your favorite villain will die fast, your great plot will be wrecked by players being players. Accept it in advance, learn to laugh about it. [/QUOTE]
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