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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rune" data-source="post: 6054265" data-attributes="member: 67">Lesson 16: Always build toward something.I'm going to change focus now, just for a little bit, because so much of being able to run games with very little preparation is in the actual running of the games.  The next few lessons will be aimed at getting your campaign to the point where it pretty much runs itself.First of all, I will be assuming a desire to actually run a long-running campaign (and, for the DM who wishes to minimize prep, there is a solid reason for wanting to do so), but these lessons are applicable at any scale; they are just as appropriate for running a single session, as they are for running a campaign arc, an entire campaign, or even multiple linked campaigns!Now, wait a minute!  Did I just say a DM who wishes to minimize prep has good reason to aim for a long-running campaign?Yes, I did.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but prepping for a bunch of one-shots will result in way more time spent in preparation in the long run.  You see, there is a certain point where the campaign progresses forward with it's own momentum and with the decisions of the players.  If you don't want to be doing a lot of extra work, you ought to be trying to get the game to that point as soon as possible.Obviously, a big part of this is maintaining player interest.  That's were this lesson comes in.  Always build toward something.There are lots of little ways to spark your players' interest and imagination.  If you've had success with little tricks like cliff-hangers, or improvisational meta-games, or player input into the setting itself...good!  Use that stuff.But, fundamentally, D&D is a game about progressing from one state to another, about standing up against and overcoming challenges (or failing to do so in memorably spectacular fashion).It's about taking individual PCs, NPCs, plot hooks, adventures, misadventures, player expectations, and DM expectations, and building a party, a setting, a plot, a story and a gaming group out of all of those little pieces.  Always build toward something.Great concept, but how is that in any way applicable?That depends.  In the beginning of a campaign, you'll probably be introducing the setting and the tone of the campaign and watching as the players struggle to find their party dynamic.  You can use this time to introduce thematic foreshadowing and challenges to the party's cohesion.  This is best handled subtly, of course.The idea, though, is that you're working on building two things: a feel for what the campaign is going to be about and a feel for how the PCs are going to fit into it.Later, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?316091-Full-time-DM-Part-time-Prep&p=5768802&viewfull=1#post5768802" target="_blank">when you have lots of plot hooks flourishing, and still more laying dormant</a>, when the PCs' actions are starting to reveal consequences, and when the PCs have some goals in sight, you should be aiming to build a sense of progress for the players.Some of this is easy.  As they pursue their goals, they will naturally feel a sense of progress, or ought to have a clear idea what immediate obstacles prevent that progress.  But even down-time can be used constructively.  Guide the players toward planning their successes during these moments with gentle (and, again, subtle) nudges.  This is especially useful if they have become frustrated or lost.Remind them that they still haven't discovered what that doppelganger was doing in the guise of the Cardinal.  Point out that an all-out assault on the necromancer's forces is bound to fail, but they do know a crazy smite-happy Paladin of Legend, don't they?Still later, when they are finally hot on the heels of the villain who has evaded them for months (or years!), the game will have plenty of momentum going for it.  At this point, you're trying to build a climax (as opposed to an anti-climax!).  Throw in close calls, suspenseful situations, situations that require distasteful solutions.  Build up the desire to shut that villain down.  Then, when they're ready—when they can't suffer that villain to exist a moment longer, that's when you unleash all hell on them!And, once it's all over, it's all over, right?Nope!  Wrap that story up, sure, but take some unresolved threads and build toward the next one.  You don't have to play it (and, even if you do, it doesn't have to be with the same characters), but dangle it out there, anyway.  You never know what'll come out of it somewhere down the line.Always build toward something.</blockquote>

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