Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tovec" data-source="post: 5448864" data-attributes="member: 95493">I've been DMing for about 5 years, and while I recognize that isn't much compared to the ol' "been around since 1st edition" people, I feel its given me a bit of insight into the 3.5 system.Okay, to start with I come up with a premise of what I want the party to do. Be it steal an artifact, stop some big bad from doing something, destroying a building or what have you. Then I come up with the main opposition to this, they should be against whatever the party is against and be the main antagonists to them. They should be creatures, a person, a force, Something the party can fight against, gain power and eventually defeat. They should be something the party will kill on sight, more or less anyway.After that I like to give them a wrench in the plans, pieces of a puzzle to collect and a benefactor that wants them to succeed. The pieces can be whatever you want them to be and be held by whatever you want to hold them. As far as the benefactor they should be someone with status or power, someone who can send help if absolutely needed, someone who can give power to them in whatever form and be able to keep them motivated. Now this isn't a necessity in ALL games but it fits very well in most.Okay, onto how to do the details of what I just said about. We know there is a good side (benefactor+the party) and a bad side (BBEG+minions) then you have to get them to fight. Usually an all out fight isn't going to work because the party should be the ones who will prevail. For this reason, avoid wars and especially battles unless its toward the end of the game.Have them dungeon delve, its what most of the classes were built for. Have the enemy win sometimes to really get them motivated.Another trick I like to use is bring in other powerhouses which can side with either group, or someone who was on the BBEG's side but you can try and win over. Give them lots of OPPORTUNITIES to get real power to fight the enemy but make it something they have to do, not merely something that is given - generally speaking.Beyond that, if you have to have them working with a larger group - such as an army or in a battle - try and make them an elite team or shock troop. They'll enjoy their role much more than just blending in with the rest of the level X fighters.One more thing, steal whatever you can get away with. Who says its wrong to have the BBEG be a giant eye in a black tower with thousands of goblins protecting him, and having the party try and sneak into a volcano to destroy his ring - the one thing that keeps him tethered to this world? Just change enough things that they won't recognize it, or especially see it coming and voila you have a pre-made campaign. If you are going to do the whole LotR adventure thing, don't make them hobbits, don't have a council at Rivendell (sp?) and don't make it obvious what's going on. As an observer in the movie (and books) we saw a lot more information from perspectives a party wouldn't see.Hope this helps.</blockquote>

Verification