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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThomasBJJ" data-source="post: 172429" data-attributes="member: 993">Here is some simple advice.  This is what I did a couple of months ago while I was planning the start of my Forgotten Realms campaign.  I was having trouble getting started... on anything. Adventures, plots, prepairing encounters. Just couldn't do it. (And I've DMed since 1986). I sat down with the DM Guide (3rd edition) and read it cover to cover. I spent alot of time on the creating adventures and campaigns sections. I had a note pad and took notes on the advice in there. From those notes, I was able to make a few lists of things that I needed to come up with to get things rolling. For example: I need some interesting locations, interesting antagonists (NPCs & Villians), a mixture of encounter types, and situations that make use of the Player Character's abilities. From that I made lists of locations I think would be cool to use. An old bell tower, a rickety old rope bridge (like in Indiana jones Temple of Doom), an old mayan/aztec style jungle temple, etc. I made a list of the types of encounters possible. Roleplaying, Combat - pc's attacking, Combat pc's defending, exploration, political, etc.  And tried to come up with ideas for each type. once I had all my lists, I had a menu of sorts to choose from while designing my campaign. I had already written down elements I wanted to use, I just had to choose what items were going to fit together.  For plots, I think it is a must to occassionally read fantasy fiction (R.A. Salvatore, Ed Greenwood, Robert Jordan) or even watch movies. Anything can inspire plot. I read somewhere that there are only a very few plots, its the details that make them different.  As for not rail roading, DMG has good advice for this. What I'm doing is this: there are always at least 3 plots happening that the PC's can get involved in. I try to make them want to get in on all of them, but have to choose only one or two. I make sure that down the road, they will hear something about the plots that they passed up, so they know that something happened without them.  For the plots they do get involved it, I try to have at least 3 ways they can approach the situation. If they miss one way, I can try to put another opportunity in thier path for the same plot. I still have one more if that doesn't work. All the while, Im weaving in small elements of another storyline, that may catch thier imagination. Last, preparation is my biggest enemy. For that, I've made a list of NPC names. at least 20. Business names, ship names, city names, etc.  I also am working on very simple items, things that the pc's can get involved in that take almost no time at all. Stop a mugging. Encounter an NPC for like 5 minutes, etc. That way I always have SOMETHING to fall back on if things go in a direction the I didn't plan on. I hope that helps. Take notes when you read dragon or dungeon mag. Inspiration is sometimes fleeting if you don't write it down.Thomas</blockquote>

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