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<blockquote data-quote="Nagol" data-source="post: 6869508" data-attributes="member: 23935"><p>Like all things, ambition is good in moderation.</p><p></p><p>Since this is your first campaign and the players' first introduction to D&D, I caution you to make certain you are giving the players sufficient control over choice and effect. One of the great joys many find from playing D&D as opposed to playing a computer game or reading a book is that <em><strong>player input matters</strong></em>.</p><p></p><p>Do not try to script out the campaign from start to finish. Commercial APs do not have the luxury of adapting to player actions which a single DM building for a single group does. Establish some milestone expectations: "They'll get <em>this</em> and then <em>that</em> will happen and lead them <em>here</em>. Unless <em>this</em> is done first and then they'll get <em>here</em> via a special message from <em>her</em>" then let the players find their way between the milestones.</p><p></p><p>Step back for a moment and think about how much time your group will play D&D. Realistically, how many sessions will the campaign run? “Forever!” Is not an appropriate answer. How many years? How many sessions per week? How many hours per session? Got a number? Take one third of that as the expected campaign length. Do you think the players' interest can be sustained for that length of time? Do you think life changes people experience will be able to accommodate the campaign over that length of time?</p><p></p><p>How many adventures can you fit in that new figure? If you are designing (what sounds like) an adventure path, that is the number of adventures you have to work with from beginning to end.</p><p></p><p>Think about how capable you expect the characters to be at the start and how capable you expect the characters to be at the milestones of the AP. That gives you your level gain expectations over the course of the AP.</p><p></p><p>Take a look at the version of RPG you're planning to use. What are its assumptions with respect to number of encounters per level? That gives you a first-cut at a “budget” of encounters available between the start and each milestone. How many adventures can you fit between milestones? How many side quests/ secondary goals/twists can your encounter budget handle? Do you need to change the game system or the leveling sub-system to better meet the game expectations? The older versions of the game could handle this form of questing campaign better than the newer games. Once you hit “name” level, experience requirements went up dramatically and power gain went up slowly compared to the more modern versions.</p><p></p><p>Now step back a minute again. Look at your overall rewards: a suit of armour made from multiple artefacts. How many players are going to be in the campaign? How many PCs can/will want to/will be allowed to wear that armour? Will the reward structure tilt the importance of a particular PC? Is the group OK with the spotlight imbalance? What are the other PCs getting as rewards? How will you handle the situation where none of the surviving PCs want the artefact?</p><p></p><p>Make certain to sell the campaign as an AP to the player group. The last thing you need is the players zigging when you expect them to zag right out of the gate. Make certain the roles envisioned by the AP are the roles the players are interested in pursuing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nagol, post: 6869508, member: 23935"] Like all things, ambition is good in moderation. Since this is your first campaign and the players' first introduction to D&D, I caution you to make certain you are giving the players sufficient control over choice and effect. One of the great joys many find from playing D&D as opposed to playing a computer game or reading a book is that [I][B]player input matters[/B][/I]. Do not try to script out the campaign from start to finish. Commercial APs do not have the luxury of adapting to player actions which a single DM building for a single group does. Establish some milestone expectations: "They'll get [I]this[/I] and then [I]that[/I] will happen and lead them [I]here[/I]. Unless [I]this[/I] is done first and then they'll get [I]here[/I] via a special message from [I]her[/I]" then let the players find their way between the milestones. Step back for a moment and think about how much time your group will play D&D. Realistically, how many sessions will the campaign run? “Forever!” Is not an appropriate answer. How many years? How many sessions per week? How many hours per session? Got a number? Take one third of that as the expected campaign length. Do you think the players' interest can be sustained for that length of time? Do you think life changes people experience will be able to accommodate the campaign over that length of time? How many adventures can you fit in that new figure? If you are designing (what sounds like) an adventure path, that is the number of adventures you have to work with from beginning to end. Think about how capable you expect the characters to be at the start and how capable you expect the characters to be at the milestones of the AP. That gives you your level gain expectations over the course of the AP. Take a look at the version of RPG you're planning to use. What are its assumptions with respect to number of encounters per level? That gives you a first-cut at a “budget” of encounters available between the start and each milestone. How many adventures can you fit between milestones? How many side quests/ secondary goals/twists can your encounter budget handle? Do you need to change the game system or the leveling sub-system to better meet the game expectations? The older versions of the game could handle this form of questing campaign better than the newer games. Once you hit “name” level, experience requirements went up dramatically and power gain went up slowly compared to the more modern versions. Now step back a minute again. Look at your overall rewards: a suit of armour made from multiple artefacts. How many players are going to be in the campaign? How many PCs can/will want to/will be allowed to wear that armour? Will the reward structure tilt the importance of a particular PC? Is the group OK with the spotlight imbalance? What are the other PCs getting as rewards? How will you handle the situation where none of the surviving PCs want the artefact? Make certain to sell the campaign as an AP to the player group. The last thing you need is the players zigging when you expect them to zag right out of the gate. Make certain the roles envisioned by the AP are the roles the players are interested in pursuing. [/QUOTE]
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