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An adventure start for new PCs isn't railroading...
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<blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 6694785" data-attributes="member: 5143"><p>Not every player is going to like your game. That's all there is to it. No matter how good it is. Especially if you've had the same players for 20 plus years. I've found the thing that has had the most effect on making my DMing better has been running games in Organized Play. Travelling from city to city DMing and playing with completely random strangers has helped me to understand the different playstyles out there and has given me some insight on what techniques are better for certain types of players than others. It has also let me know things that can make certain players very angry while still making everyone else at the table happy.</p><p></p><p>Some people will say that my DMing is a bit "bland" because of this. I've learned the correct way to word things to keep the game moving with the least number of objections. Which isn't always the most exciting way to play.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Here's the problem though. I love games with story. As long as it isn't TOO much story. The players are still playing a game and they want input. Sometimes very creative people can take their vision too far. I'm not saying you do, but it is a concern for many players. I played, briefly, in a campaign with one of those creative types. He spent most of the session talking, stopping very little to ask the players what they were doing. When they said what they were doing, he'd take the general gist of what the player said and narrate the next 20 minutes of what happens, including the player's dialog.</p><p></p><p>He asked me once "There is a caravan you see on the road. What do you do?" and I said "I sneak up on it" and was treated with a flowery description of every rock I needed to hide behind in order to creep closer to the caravan, the waterfall I passed along the way, the smell and color of the grass, the tree I eventually hid behind. Then I was told the description of every last person in the caravan. When he got to the description of one of the NPCs, he told me that the NPC was my mentor from years ago(which I never wrote into my background or wanted in my background, but he felt he was the DM and he could assign backgrounds). Then he told the tale of a conversation my mentor and I had years ago, before be betrayed me and ran off. Then he described how I left the caravan and went back to the party to inform them of what I had seen...all of which without asking me if I wanted to.</p><p></p><p>Another DM ran the adventure in my post above this. He really liked to write out 150 page "Campaign Books" before his games even started, filled with the names of every important NPC, city, and country in his world along with detailed maps and histories. This made them detailed. But often stepped on the toes of the players in his games.</p><p></p><p>Writing and DMing are two different skills. You can take cues from one to help with the other but, especially in a game, the story goes in a different direction than you want it to or is dramatically appropriate. DMing is partially learning to understand that sometimes that's ok.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Majoru Oakheart, post: 6694785, member: 5143"] Not every player is going to like your game. That's all there is to it. No matter how good it is. Especially if you've had the same players for 20 plus years. I've found the thing that has had the most effect on making my DMing better has been running games in Organized Play. Travelling from city to city DMing and playing with completely random strangers has helped me to understand the different playstyles out there and has given me some insight on what techniques are better for certain types of players than others. It has also let me know things that can make certain players very angry while still making everyone else at the table happy. Some people will say that my DMing is a bit "bland" because of this. I've learned the correct way to word things to keep the game moving with the least number of objections. Which isn't always the most exciting way to play. Here's the problem though. I love games with story. As long as it isn't TOO much story. The players are still playing a game and they want input. Sometimes very creative people can take their vision too far. I'm not saying you do, but it is a concern for many players. I played, briefly, in a campaign with one of those creative types. He spent most of the session talking, stopping very little to ask the players what they were doing. When they said what they were doing, he'd take the general gist of what the player said and narrate the next 20 minutes of what happens, including the player's dialog. He asked me once "There is a caravan you see on the road. What do you do?" and I said "I sneak up on it" and was treated with a flowery description of every rock I needed to hide behind in order to creep closer to the caravan, the waterfall I passed along the way, the smell and color of the grass, the tree I eventually hid behind. Then I was told the description of every last person in the caravan. When he got to the description of one of the NPCs, he told me that the NPC was my mentor from years ago(which I never wrote into my background or wanted in my background, but he felt he was the DM and he could assign backgrounds). Then he told the tale of a conversation my mentor and I had years ago, before be betrayed me and ran off. Then he described how I left the caravan and went back to the party to inform them of what I had seen...all of which without asking me if I wanted to. Another DM ran the adventure in my post above this. He really liked to write out 150 page "Campaign Books" before his games even started, filled with the names of every important NPC, city, and country in his world along with detailed maps and histories. This made them detailed. But often stepped on the toes of the players in his games. Writing and DMing are two different skills. You can take cues from one to help with the other but, especially in a game, the story goes in a different direction than you want it to or is dramatically appropriate. DMing is partially learning to understand that sometimes that's ok. [/QUOTE]
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