Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
A thought/question for DMs about 5e...
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="GM Dave" data-source="post: 5911365" data-attributes="member: 6687992"><p>I would agree that it depends on the campaign that I am running and the players that I am gaming with.</p><p></p><p>I have a brand new group of players with 3 to 4 players that are playing for the first time. In this situation, I've taken on most of the campaign details and have given very little freedom in the first couple of missions on what their objective for the adventure is to be.</p><p></p><p>I've started them with an amnesia situation and told them they were pulled out moments before their deaths to serve a mysterious organization that will happily return them to their deaths if they don't comply. They've had a bit of latitude to decide on how they died (I allow them to pitch suggestions that fit with their natures). I also adjust the story based on who has shown up on a week and what kind of characters and moods are present.</p><p></p><p>------------------------</p><p></p><p>The other campaign has an experienced group that has been gaming together for roughly five years though this is my first time GMing the full group (I've done fill in for some of the players when the regular GM and wife have been out with maternity leave).</p><p></p><p>I started this campaign by taking a blank sheet of paper, putting an X in the middle and then asking the players in turn to tell me; 'What is to the North? East? West?' I gave each a chance to give a one word description of an item that later players could add details to or create something new for the general map.</p><p></p><p>After the surroundings were created, I then had them answer questions on what was at the centre of the map. I asked them questions on why certain things were important, what kind of religion existed, how did magic work, who did people say was in charge and who was really in charge.</p><p></p><p>They even chose what races were working in the world by what races they choose for their characters and telling me what part of the world did the races call home.</p><p></p><p>I then worked with the players borrowing from the game Smallville to make relationship and conflict maps around the characters. We rolled randomly deciding on which characters had in some prior time worked together on a mission together and what kind of encounter that had been (borrowing from Fate/Dresden RPG).</p><p></p><p>I got from this several pages of ideas which I add to from time to time while advancing the ideas that the players started and pursue.</p><p></p><p>When players need an idea to pursue, I pull out a list of plot threads they can look into. I've also over time had them generate bits of family and connections to the town. This give further sources for story hooks and 'toys' for the players to play with.</p><p></p><p>This is my aim with the campiagn is to create a rich 'toyland' or 'toybox' of things the players can do. If they want to work on a mystery then I have several threads that I feed with a weekly series of 'rumours' (usually 3 to 4 is enough). If they want or don't want then their families will interact with them in different ways.</p><p></p><p>I've even did a session where two of the player's siblings (7 normally NPC characters) were distributed to the PCs to play an adventure (they went on a rescue mission to free two of the players that were in prison while the rest of the group was doing another adventure).</p><p></p><p>I'd say this game is 30% GM managed (I fill in the missing details and keep the NPCs moving on and off stage) and 70% Player actions and inspiration (they've created most of the details and have high buy in).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GM Dave, post: 5911365, member: 6687992"] I would agree that it depends on the campaign that I am running and the players that I am gaming with. I have a brand new group of players with 3 to 4 players that are playing for the first time. In this situation, I've taken on most of the campaign details and have given very little freedom in the first couple of missions on what their objective for the adventure is to be. I've started them with an amnesia situation and told them they were pulled out moments before their deaths to serve a mysterious organization that will happily return them to their deaths if they don't comply. They've had a bit of latitude to decide on how they died (I allow them to pitch suggestions that fit with their natures). I also adjust the story based on who has shown up on a week and what kind of characters and moods are present. ------------------------ The other campaign has an experienced group that has been gaming together for roughly five years though this is my first time GMing the full group (I've done fill in for some of the players when the regular GM and wife have been out with maternity leave). I started this campaign by taking a blank sheet of paper, putting an X in the middle and then asking the players in turn to tell me; 'What is to the North? East? West?' I gave each a chance to give a one word description of an item that later players could add details to or create something new for the general map. After the surroundings were created, I then had them answer questions on what was at the centre of the map. I asked them questions on why certain things were important, what kind of religion existed, how did magic work, who did people say was in charge and who was really in charge. They even chose what races were working in the world by what races they choose for their characters and telling me what part of the world did the races call home. I then worked with the players borrowing from the game Smallville to make relationship and conflict maps around the characters. We rolled randomly deciding on which characters had in some prior time worked together on a mission together and what kind of encounter that had been (borrowing from Fate/Dresden RPG). I got from this several pages of ideas which I add to from time to time while advancing the ideas that the players started and pursue. When players need an idea to pursue, I pull out a list of plot threads they can look into. I've also over time had them generate bits of family and connections to the town. This give further sources for story hooks and 'toys' for the players to play with. This is my aim with the campiagn is to create a rich 'toyland' or 'toybox' of things the players can do. If they want to work on a mystery then I have several threads that I feed with a weekly series of 'rumours' (usually 3 to 4 is enough). If they want or don't want then their families will interact with them in different ways. I've even did a session where two of the player's siblings (7 normally NPC characters) were distributed to the PCs to play an adventure (they went on a rescue mission to free two of the players that were in prison while the rest of the group was doing another adventure). I'd say this game is 30% GM managed (I fill in the missing details and keep the NPCs moving on and off stage) and 70% Player actions and inspiration (they've created most of the details and have high buy in). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
A thought/question for DMs about 5e...
Top