Must You Tell Your Players What Adventure You Are Running?

[payn]

So, to what degree do you prefer to know the basis? Are you thinking how the players guides for the Pathfinder APs work?

Yes, ideally I want that level of detail, however, I understand some folks run sandboxes that are not as specific as that. I at least need more than a place. What’s going on politically? What are the adventure types the players can expect? It need not even be detailed if it’s something like “find dungeons crawl them” I at least know there is some expectation. I don’t even know how the PCs will be linked and have any reason to care.

 

[aramis erak]

Assuming you are using one or more published adventures as the GM of a campaign, are you "required" (by courtesy, if nothing else) to tell your players a) that you are doing so, and/or b) what published adventure you are using.

That I'm using a published adventure? Yes. Which? No, but I tend not to hide it.

 

[Tonguez]

Yes, ideally I want that level of detail, however, I understand some folks run sandboxes that are not as specific as that. I at least need more than a place. What’s going on politically? What are the adventure types the players can expect? It need not even be detailed if it’s something like “find dungeons crawl them” I at least know there is some expectation. I don’t even know how the PCs will be linked and have any reason to care.

fair enough, but for me those things are all part of session 0, where we will discuss what we understand "late Rennaissance coastal city" means including asking the PCs what they think the politics looks like, introduce the characters they want to play (focussing on their Backgrounds) and have the players come up with how the PCs are linked (hopefully generating new hooks). As DM I'll pick up on any character hooks that get shared from the PC backgrounds and see how I can use them (usually be creating factions or places in the City the PC associates with)

from the late Rennaissance, coastal city bustling with trade description I gave we can expect some standard tropes
- its a city = cosmopolitan feel, busy streets, rich villas on the hill, poor slums near the docks, large market, academies, entertainment area (Taverns, Opera Houses), crime syndicates, slum gangs, secret deals => The City is "Vibrant with life, veiled in shadows"
- its coastal = Docks, Merchants Guild, Ships from many lands bringing luxury goods, Smugglers, Pirates and Privateers, Navy => The City is "Harbouring the Sails of many nations"
- its Rennaissance = thriving Arts (Bardic Plays, Opera, Painters) and Sciences (Magic, Artificers, Clockwork Engineers), Old Nobility, Duels, Superstition and Inquisition? => The City has "New Ideas and Old Rivalries"

 

[payn]

fair enough, but for me those things are all part of session 0, where we will discuss what we understand "late Rennaissance coastal city" means including asking the PCs what they think the politics looks like, introduce the characters they want to play (focussing on their Backgrounds) and have the players come up with how the PCs are linked (hopefully generating new hooks). As DM I'll pick up on any character hooks that get shared from the PC backgrounds and see how I can use them (usually be creating a factions or places in the City the PC associates with)

from the late Rennaissance, coastal city bustling with trade description I gave we can expect some standard tropes
- its a city = cosmopolitan feel, busy streets, rich villas on the hill, poor slums near the docks, large market, academies, entertainment area (Taverns, Opera Houses), crime syndicates, slum gangs, secret deals => The City is "Vibrant with life, veiled in shadows"
- its coastal = Docks, Merchants Guild, Ships from many lands bringing luxury goods, Smugglers, Pirates and Privateers, Navy => The City is "Harbouring the Sails of many nations"
- its Rennaissance = thriving Arts (Bardic Plays, Opera, Painters) and Sciences (Magic, Artificers, Clockwork Engineers), Old Nobility, Duels, Superstition and Inquisition? => The City has "New Ideas and Old Rivalries"

I know there have been two schools on this. One is a prepared or at least thought out campaign that is put before the players. This is where campaign players guides really come in. Then, there is the players decide what they want to do and the GM prepares off that. Im a bit of both worlds in that as a player I want something to nibble at, something to bind us players as a group, after that I can really provide ideas.

I wouldnt feel comfortable at all showing up to a sesh zero having no more idea than coastal city and building from there. Maybe folks have more proactive players than I have had? Maybe they have had good improv GMs that can go with the flow? Usually, this is a giant red flag for me that that game is going to last 3-5 sessions tops.

 

[Alzrius]

No, because that's how you get scenarios like this:

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

Personally, I feel it depends. If you're going to run a module where certain choices may be vastly underpowered - say the original Ravenloft module - or some options aren't available - clerics in Dragonlance - I think you absolutely need to let people know.

I'm getting of an age where I have begun to resent players who bring characters to a session that thematically don't fit the group or the stated adventure, and the DMs who feel you need to always 'yes and' everything - there's always room for 'yes but' or 'no but' in gaming.

 

[Gorgon Zee]

I want my players to feel comfortable, so I tell them. Sometimes it’s very explicit: “we’re playing The Great Pendragon Campaign” or “I’m adapting <TSR D&D module> to start our 13th age campaign”. Sometimes it’s more general “I’m using a mix of LFR high tier adventures as part of the campaign”.

I don’t have a problem with players building characters optimized for a system, so for me there is no downside to making sure my players know what they are going to be doing and what to avoid reading for spoilers.

 

[billd91]

This has come up a few times and I dont get it - if I tell the players "you're starting in a coastal city bustling with trade, warm climate, late rennaisance, all phb races - is that not enough to tie yourself to the setting? As GM Id that pick up your PCs background to expand on. No adventures yet...

Well, that’s part of the difference between running a published scenario or AP vs designing adventures/situations based on the PCs. Not all adventures are suitable for all PCs under the sun so a bit of tailoring, whether of the published scenario or PCs (or both) will be in order. If you want to run Curse of the Crimson Throne, it works better with PCs well-tied to Korvosa than with itinerant loners. If I want to play in said campaign, I want to know more about Korvosa and how to be well-tied in to the city.