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Novice DM, looking for advice
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<blockquote data-quote="Rahkan" data-source="post: 289313" data-attributes="member: 3583"><p>I'd like some advice on two major things. Please keep in mind that my DMing skills are admittedly sub-par. I have decent acting and improvisation skills but am unfortunately unable to pull DnD game stats out of odd orifices and that limits what I can do.</p><p></p><p>My first question is regarding party composition. Right now I have three players I can count on. I know one of them is planning on a monk. Of the other two I know that between the other two one will play a wizard and then I'll probably sit on someone to be a cleric. I wouldn't mind not having a rogue because I can probably arrange things so that there are just no traps or vital locked doors. My main problem is the monk, should I sit on him to change that to a fighter class? I've been reading some things about how monks don't work well in replacement of the main fighter. If any of you are proposing adding an NPC to the party I gotta tell you that I really want to avoid that. In every adventure I've been in that has always turned out badly.</p><p></p><p> My next concern is the adventure. I've run some adventures in the past, which all failed because of rail-roading on my part. And all the adventures I've participated were really uninspired dungeon crawls (including sunless citadel). Thus I was thinking of putting my adventure in a city under seige. Basically the enemy forces diverted the nearest army garrison and then quick-marched to the city. For months they have been insinuating various low-level skirmishers (mainly rogues, sorcerers, monks, barbarians, and rangers) and when the beseigers arrive these infiltrators go wild. They try to assassinate the main defenders of the town, including the PCs employer (a leading merchant). </p><p> I'm getting to the problem in a second, sorry for the long-windedness. But the walls are really strong, and there are ample defenders. The beseigers are nomads (like the Tatars) and don't have seige weaponry. Basically they are relying on infiltrators, summoned creatures and such to open the gates for them. The town itself never really had much leadership, it always relied on the army to bail it out of trouble. So basically the merchant-leaders and the sheriff are all holed up in a castle (the council-house), with various adventurers including the PCs. They're cut off from the rest of the city and are all generating various hare-brained schemes to repel the invaders. All they have to do is wait about 20 days until the army gets there (they've already magically contacted the army)</p><p> And basically the PCs have to go out there, fight there way through the streets. Make contact with the major strongpoints, decide who to help and what schemes to carry out. For instance this one compound of warriors outside the city is running low on supplies and they could choose to run extra food and arrows over there. Also I wanted to make time of the essence, so that the more the PCs rest and lollygag the more damage would be done. </p><p> But the basic break-down in this plan is, how do I organize it? I've thought about keying encounters to different locations, just like a big, unorthodox dungeon. Or do I have the people in the council give them specific missions (take y to x). How do I link the adventure together so it has a uniform purpose and its not just aimless wandering? (thats a major question for me). I have alot of ideas for encounters, but I'm not sure whether a bunch of neat encounters is enough. Do I need a big purpose to link them together? What could such a purpose be? I'm sorry to have taken so long, but I hope the experienced DMs here can help me out.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rahkan, post: 289313, member: 3583"] I'd like some advice on two major things. Please keep in mind that my DMing skills are admittedly sub-par. I have decent acting and improvisation skills but am unfortunately unable to pull DnD game stats out of odd orifices and that limits what I can do. My first question is regarding party composition. Right now I have three players I can count on. I know one of them is planning on a monk. Of the other two I know that between the other two one will play a wizard and then I'll probably sit on someone to be a cleric. I wouldn't mind not having a rogue because I can probably arrange things so that there are just no traps or vital locked doors. My main problem is the monk, should I sit on him to change that to a fighter class? I've been reading some things about how monks don't work well in replacement of the main fighter. If any of you are proposing adding an NPC to the party I gotta tell you that I really want to avoid that. In every adventure I've been in that has always turned out badly. My next concern is the adventure. I've run some adventures in the past, which all failed because of rail-roading on my part. And all the adventures I've participated were really uninspired dungeon crawls (including sunless citadel). Thus I was thinking of putting my adventure in a city under seige. Basically the enemy forces diverted the nearest army garrison and then quick-marched to the city. For months they have been insinuating various low-level skirmishers (mainly rogues, sorcerers, monks, barbarians, and rangers) and when the beseigers arrive these infiltrators go wild. They try to assassinate the main defenders of the town, including the PCs employer (a leading merchant). I'm getting to the problem in a second, sorry for the long-windedness. But the walls are really strong, and there are ample defenders. The beseigers are nomads (like the Tatars) and don't have seige weaponry. Basically they are relying on infiltrators, summoned creatures and such to open the gates for them. The town itself never really had much leadership, it always relied on the army to bail it out of trouble. So basically the merchant-leaders and the sheriff are all holed up in a castle (the council-house), with various adventurers including the PCs. They're cut off from the rest of the city and are all generating various hare-brained schemes to repel the invaders. All they have to do is wait about 20 days until the army gets there (they've already magically contacted the army) And basically the PCs have to go out there, fight there way through the streets. Make contact with the major strongpoints, decide who to help and what schemes to carry out. For instance this one compound of warriors outside the city is running low on supplies and they could choose to run extra food and arrows over there. Also I wanted to make time of the essence, so that the more the PCs rest and lollygag the more damage would be done. But the basic break-down in this plan is, how do I organize it? I've thought about keying encounters to different locations, just like a big, unorthodox dungeon. Or do I have the people in the council give them specific missions (take y to x). How do I link the adventure together so it has a uniform purpose and its not just aimless wandering? (thats a major question for me). I have alot of ideas for encounters, but I'm not sure whether a bunch of neat encounters is enough. Do I need a big purpose to link them together? What could such a purpose be? I'm sorry to have taken so long, but I hope the experienced DMs here can help me out. [/QUOTE]
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