The secrets of winging it
Eldragon
First Post
Pbartender said:
Quoted again to emphasize the importance of this! I'm a pure wing-it DM. I almost never fully stat out creatures/characters/encounters. Instead I decide what encounters will "probably" happen, and put post it notes on the edges of the books I would be using.
For any NPCs that the party might encounter, I write down Level, HP, AC, Attack, DM, Saves. I dont even follow the rules for those stats either. I dont write down feats, spells, skills, etc. If an NPC needs to make a skill check, I just add 4 to the level of the NPC and assume that is the bonus. Divide by two or four if the NPC would not be expected to be skilled in that area.
First time the party runs into an NPC, I use whatever feats I find convenient at the time, and write them down. Next time the party encounters that NPC, they have the same feats.
Spells are the tricky thing. How do you wing a 10th level caster? they have TONS of spells to choose from. Again, the trick is to be consistent. If you want to wallop the party with a cloudkill, use It. Then take note that the NPC has cloudkill, so you dont acidentally give your sorceror too many spells known.
The pitfalls of dynamically choosing spells is that you will find yourself using the same spells again and again. So just before game day, pick 5 spells that the party has never seen before and try use them. Everyone expects Fireball, no one Expects a Sonic Boom.
Hope my players don't read that....
Vraille Darkfang
First Post
I wing it a lot (sort of).
I have a beginning and an end in mind. But how they get there is a bunch of random encounters where I thread together some commonalities on the fly.
You'd be surprised how often this manages to resemble some tangled, complex, design of such subtlety and vision that players will wonder how you managed to do it. (PS. Don't tell them).
Here's how you get the best out of 'Winging it' (I hate that term, I prefer Spontaneous Adventure Creation).
1. Make a list of each player's strengths (Is the Fighter a up-front tank, Bow Master; is the Rogue a master of Stealth or a Trap-Guru?).
2. Make a list of each player's weaknesses (Low Will Saves, Low Charisma, Low AC, etc).
Then, copy that list into 2 columns, one Strengths, 1 Weaknesses, but don't include the PC with it. Just make a note of how many PC's have that particular Trait. (High AC-2, Low Reflex-3 for example). You'll know (should) which PC has which trait, but that's not the point. The point is to create an encounter sheet which appears geared expressly to your group.
Now.
Have roughly 1/3rd of your random encounters play to one of the strengths listed (Gives that player/s a chance to shine).
Have roughly 1/3rd of your random encounters play to one of the weaknesses (Gives the other players a chance to aid their ally).
Have 1/3rd be whatever you darn well please.
Then, just leave little clues/hints that seem random, but wait for a theme to develop (it'll come). Eventually you'll hit on something and that which doesn't fit was just a 'Random Encounter' as opposed to the 'Plot Encounters'.
Remember to listen to the players. If you have done your job right, their paranoid little minds can come up with conspiracy theories that's make Fox Mulder blink. (Plus, the get the satisfaction about their 'guess' being right.
Spontaneous Adventure Creation is an Art Form that takes a lot of practice to perfect. But (when done well) gives the illusion (and effect) of having of spent hours and hours and hours crafting encounter after encounter after NPC after Adventure and Plot Hook after......
You get the point.
If you wing it, try to tailor it to some aspect of your group.
I have a beginning and an end in mind. But how they get there is a bunch of random encounters where I thread together some commonalities on the fly.
You'd be surprised how often this manages to resemble some tangled, complex, design of such subtlety and vision that players will wonder how you managed to do it. (PS. Don't tell them).
Here's how you get the best out of 'Winging it' (I hate that term, I prefer Spontaneous Adventure Creation).
1. Make a list of each player's strengths (Is the Fighter a up-front tank, Bow Master; is the Rogue a master of Stealth or a Trap-Guru?).
2. Make a list of each player's weaknesses (Low Will Saves, Low Charisma, Low AC, etc).
Then, copy that list into 2 columns, one Strengths, 1 Weaknesses, but don't include the PC with it. Just make a note of how many PC's have that particular Trait. (High AC-2, Low Reflex-3 for example). You'll know (should) which PC has which trait, but that's not the point. The point is to create an encounter sheet which appears geared expressly to your group.
Now.
Have roughly 1/3rd of your random encounters play to one of the strengths listed (Gives that player/s a chance to shine).
Have roughly 1/3rd of your random encounters play to one of the weaknesses (Gives the other players a chance to aid their ally).
Have 1/3rd be whatever you darn well please.
Then, just leave little clues/hints that seem random, but wait for a theme to develop (it'll come). Eventually you'll hit on something and that which doesn't fit was just a 'Random Encounter' as opposed to the 'Plot Encounters'.
Remember to listen to the players. If you have done your job right, their paranoid little minds can come up with conspiracy theories that's make Fox Mulder blink. (Plus, the get the satisfaction about their 'guess' being right.
Spontaneous Adventure Creation is an Art Form that takes a lot of practice to perfect. But (when done well) gives the illusion (and effect) of having of spent hours and hours and hours crafting encounter after encounter after NPC after Adventure and Plot Hook after......
You get the point.
If you wing it, try to tailor it to some aspect of your group.
JiffyPopTart
Bree-Yark
One bit of advice to "wing it" when the PC's start waltzing through your adventure by not even slowing down or being challenged in combats....
Give the monsters MAX hitpoints. Don't bother changing anything else...just max out the HP. This eliminates a lot of "Just don't roll a 1 and you kill another orc" situations.
DS
Give the monsters MAX hitpoints. Don't bother changing anything else...just max out the HP. This eliminates a lot of "Just don't roll a 1 and you kill another orc" situations.
DS
EricNoah
Adventurer
Oh yeah, I started using the max hp thing a while back. Definitely makes combats more memorable. I use it in place of DR and sometimes regeneration, in particular. One less thing to worry about.
The strengths/weaknesses thing is really cool -- a great way to organize encounter charts, actually. Instead of "random encounters" it would be more like encounter "menus", with different parts of the menu for different strengths or weaknesses.
The strengths/weaknesses thing is really cool -- a great way to organize encounter charts, actually. Instead of "random encounters" it would be more like encounter "menus", with different parts of the menu for different strengths or weaknesses.
Voadam
Legend
Monsters/NPCs out of the book. I had a couple NPCs straight out of Complete Warrior and Call to Duty show up as Lothian Church agents when I was running Demon God's Fane and it worked well.
Don't define until you have to for NPC stats. I can't predict when my high level group is going to decide they should attack someone who has not attacked them first. I generally have stat ideas in my head like "Prelate Achaieus is a 15th level cleric of Lothian. Remember he can cast 7th level cleric spells." The group almost started a war with the Lothians but ended up not doing so and he was never attacked so I never needed his full stats defined.
The 3.0 DMG NPC tables are pretty good for everything except spells prepared/known. I've gotten good use out of the NPC wiki and a quick character generator I bought here.
Don't define until you have to for NPC stats. I can't predict when my high level group is going to decide they should attack someone who has not attacked them first. I generally have stat ideas in my head like "Prelate Achaieus is a 15th level cleric of Lothian. Remember he can cast 7th level cleric spells." The group almost started a war with the Lothians but ended up not doing so and he was never attacked so I never needed his full stats defined.
The 3.0 DMG NPC tables are pretty good for everything except spells prepared/known. I've gotten good use out of the NPC wiki and a quick character generator I bought here.
merelycompetent
First Post
Rhun said:
I will add to this: And as long as they don't KNOW you're winging it...
Half of good winging it is being a good actor. The other half is taking notes/preparing a few basics. If you act like you know what you're doing, use the available tools (thanks, Nail, for pointing me to NPC Designer) and have prepared a few NPCs/BBEGs (+1 to +3 average party level) in advance, they'll never know it was all done 90% on the fly.
kigmatzomat
Hero
Also when the party goes on a tangent that requires significant gaming by the seat of your pants, don't hesitate to throw out a delaying encounter or let them make some knowledge checks to come up with information that requires party debate.
'Bout a year ago the bard latched onto a minor factoid and convinced the party to go on a quest to the other side of the continent (which I had virtually zero significant planning for). I had 'em make some navigation/survival/knowledge checks to realize how much gear they might need and how much they didn't know about where they were going. They spent most of that session acquiring information, getting letters of introduction, contracting a ship to take them there, etc, etc.
While they did paperwork and compared notes on how many rations to buy and whether to bring their horses or plan on buying more later, I perused the MM to find some kind of "recurring regional threat" monster (I used oversized steam mephits that live in a hot spring near the trails) to give them a thrill and bide time.
Net result was they did a significant amount of traveling through the "civilized" lands and had a decent little brawl before the game ended. They were happy and I had time to start putting together information for the next session. That particular arc is one that everyone enjoyed and that I managed to use to leverage my primary plot forward.
'Bout a year ago the bard latched onto a minor factoid and convinced the party to go on a quest to the other side of the continent (which I had virtually zero significant planning for). I had 'em make some navigation/survival/knowledge checks to realize how much gear they might need and how much they didn't know about where they were going. They spent most of that session acquiring information, getting letters of introduction, contracting a ship to take them there, etc, etc.
While they did paperwork and compared notes on how many rations to buy and whether to bring their horses or plan on buying more later, I perused the MM to find some kind of "recurring regional threat" monster (I used oversized steam mephits that live in a hot spring near the trails) to give them a thrill and bide time.
Net result was they did a significant amount of traveling through the "civilized" lands and had a decent little brawl before the game ended. They were happy and I had time to start putting together information for the next session. That particular arc is one that everyone enjoyed and that I managed to use to leverage my primary plot forward.
A key aspect to winging it I think is be sensitive to the clues the players are giving out. A lot of the winging I do happens when I give a description to something, and the players give a strong reaction, I feel compleled to explore it further. If you are describing a passage way that has not been used in a long time and your players give a strong frightened or horror reaction, go with it.
Ironicaly planning is the best friend to winging it. Just thinking about all the possible actions your party might take in a given circumstance means that even if you do not have a lick of statistics, you can still keep up decent pacing, which is key.
Your quick and dirty statistic method works fine, I think many of us use something similiar. I would also suggest use what you know, and go with your instincts. If your 5th level party picks a fight in the Tavern you had to make up on the spot, and your first thought is "Drunken Monk".. go with it. Dont worry about level differences, or PrC requirements have them fight a straight Drunken Monk w/o other class level. Great thing about a system with so many different feats, Prc, Templates etc is really anything can go, and anything can be justified.
Most DMs have more ideas about adventures than they ever use, when the party goes off the reservation, that is the time to use one of those ideas, grab a random map if needed, and have at it.
Ironicaly planning is the best friend to winging it. Just thinking about all the possible actions your party might take in a given circumstance means that even if you do not have a lick of statistics, you can still keep up decent pacing, which is key.
Your quick and dirty statistic method works fine, I think many of us use something similiar. I would also suggest use what you know, and go with your instincts. If your 5th level party picks a fight in the Tavern you had to make up on the spot, and your first thought is "Drunken Monk".. go with it. Dont worry about level differences, or PrC requirements have them fight a straight Drunken Monk w/o other class level. Great thing about a system with so many different feats, Prc, Templates etc is really anything can go, and anything can be justified.
Most DMs have more ideas about adventures than they ever use, when the party goes off the reservation, that is the time to use one of those ideas, grab a random map if needed, and have at it.
