The DM's Percentage

[RatBastard]

Since both the other DM and I use really old modules that we extensively re-write and update to new rulesets and settings, I'd say 40% from published plot and reward ideas, 60% whole-cloth fabrications. My Temple of Elemental Evil campaign and his Against the Giants one were both hard to identify until almost the very end, and that by players who had even run the original settings years previous for 1st Ed.

Having said that, I know I steal 90% of my "homebrewed" ideas, I just can't remember the source

 

[Toscadero]

I get my ideas from all over. The last book I read, the news, a favorite movie, etc. Whereas this outside influence (including modules) brings me the 70% background, I usually make up everything that happens in that particular evening on my own. I won't be tied down by a module or an idea if the player's are taking the game in an interesting direction. The trick is not letting them know that we've gone far, far away from what the module on the table intended.

 

[the GreyOrm]

I usually take my main ideas from history and mythology. I like getting funky, like mixing paganism with monotheism in a culture, and I have a thing for the ancient Egyptian and Babylonian cultures, as well as the Norse.

I occasionally use published modules or maps as basic guidelines, and change the relation of everything therein, switching rooms, encounters, and even creatures around as appropriate (usually, I'll change names and descriptions, but not stats, to save myself work).

I also use my players, the best source of ideas for any GM. Where they go, I follow. It's awesome.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Everybody likes to think they're all unique, but I'd maybe be willing to bet cash money that half or more of D&D adventures are inspired by something non-D&D, or a gaming product that the DM owns. While turning it into D&D is always the DM's process alone, my theory is that most of what someone would call 'original' really isn't...it's taken from myth, from history, from TV shows, from literature, from game products itself.

 

[Nifft]

Everybody likes to think they're all unique, but I'd maybe be willing to bet cash money that half or more of D&D adventures are inspired by something non-D&D, or a gaming product that the DM owns. While turning it into D&D is always the DM's process alone, my theory is that most of what someone would call 'original' really isn't...it's taken from myth, from history, from TV shows, from literature, from game products itself.

"Inspired by" is still original. If it needs to be interpreted to be D&D-stat-ized, then that interpretation is original at the very least.

Note also that there are very few D&D adventure-like things out there in the world. Movies follow a plot, but don't tell you what would have happened if the protagonists went off that plot line... if you try to make a movie into a D&D adventure, you're going to have to make up a LOT of stuff, or you're going to have to railroad your PCs the whole way.

Myths, history, TV shows: they're all inspiration for scenarios, scenes, over-arching plots and the like. The actual plot is determined by the player's actions, and that's not something I can predict.

-- Nifft

 

[Ran]

Everyone gets ideas from somewhere, sometimes, and either uses them wholesale or makes them more their own. Some DM's use modules and published settings exclusive, while others write each and every detail by themselves...but they still have had some influence from outside sources. Whether it is the daily newspaper, history books, or sci-fi/fantasy novels, something always has some influence on how a campaign setting is generated and run.

So what is The DM's Percentage in your game?

(...also, what are the influences and how much do you change them?)

Well, I voted for 80% original dm's work, I prefer to make most things myself since my players tend to read a lot of books and adventures, and mostly they mean not to play them...

I usually get influences from books, movies, other adventures and also videogame titles, but haven't played them for quite some time now... oh, forgot one that truly makes it a vry good shot, MUSIC, lots of music inpirates me, not only for their lyrics, but also for the mood they give when you hear it...

Anyway my influences don't change much, once in a while I may be influenced by some other, but most of the time I just think: What do i want?, What can I use?, How would this fit together?... and it is born!

 

[mkletch]

A big part of the picture is tying together all of the little bits and pieves you scrounge elsewhere. It's a lot of work, so I'd put the DM's percentage at 60 or 70%.

-Fletch!

 

[AlynnalizzaL]

I generally come across a snipet of a good 'moment'. I then try to take that 'moment' and make an adventure out of it. Whether it be a battle in a Computer Game, a TV show, a movie, etc. I take that one minute and try to make one or two sessions out of it. But that is the main crust of my DM pie, taking someone else's idea and running completely over it until I like it. Percantage wise 60% in my games. (Of course I am generally evil and can come up with things on the fly!)

 

[GrayIguana]

DM's Percentage

I voted 50-50. As the DM, I¡¦d like to think that everything I do is an original. I have degrees in History and Creative Writing. I draw influences from far too many places to believe that anything I create is entirely original. With this in mind, I can only hope that I am giving a unique spin to my stories so that I don¡¦t appear as a fraudƒº. For my own experience, I began DMing in the FR but I eventually realized I wasn¡¦t using much more than the maps and the stats. So I began my own world.

It is interesting that you mentioned taking something from the news. I believe that fantasy can be appealing if there is something relevant to current issues within the plot. Fritz Leiber did this in some of his writings. For example, players seemed to get real interested in a plot I recently did with a terrorist type villain. I didn¡¦t present it as such, but the elements were there in the story. (Evil rebel priest decides to enter kingdom to wreak havoc on his own and the PCs must stop him). Otherwise I am influenced by many things; history, current events, novels. I¡¦ve noticed lately that my homebrew seems to have large influences from greek myth (vain gods struggling against each other), and Planet of the Apes (a world dominated by non-humans). Yet either way, I think I am careful enough to put a unique spin on what I am trying to do. There is nothing worse than a player saying something like, ¡§Hey this is just like that story about Beowulf and Grendel.¡¨ (Of course, I¡¦ve been DMing for a long time since then). ƒº

 

[saebasan]

DM's Percentage

I tend to use modules and accessories (like Hollowfaust or Streets of Silver) and then customize them to match my campaign, as well as make up large pieces from scratch. So it is about a 50/50 mix in my estimation.