NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="zakael19" data-source="post: 9628612" data-attributes="member: 7044099">Since we're still talking about prep and mysteries, I thought I might share a little bit of a contrast between two games I ran last year.D&D 5e, a tweaked version of the Call of the Netherdeep campaign. This is a pretty classic plot-heavy thing, with an expectation that the players will see a "mysterious thread" and follow it. Let's narrow down to the second adventure area: the fortress settlement of Bazzoxan. Players follow breadcrumbs here, based on weird visions and cryptic statements. They explore around, interacting with hooks present via the form of events and NPCs. Eventually, they uncover enough clues that the weird vision meant they need to go into the twisting temple of evil the fortress is built around/to contain. If they miss clues, they might find avenues within closed off; the plot itself may crumble (and thus the DM needs to ensure they get certain things); and the entire play kinda peters out.I prepped: the stuff in teh book to be usable at the table, descriptions of events; NPCs and what they want/say/reveal/offer; the map of the town with a key; critical plot knowledge and clues they had to get; secondary quests to add some play time; encounters; and some color.Stonetop, a Dungeon World "descendent." This is a premise-focused game with a quite detailed setting. We play to find out something like if the characters can defend their Iron Age settlement against the Threats that abound, improve it so it can thrive, and if they'll make it  themselves. Session 0 and character creation defines a number of critical elements (much like AW): the playbooks and specific choices therein are communication tools that tell me & the other players what they want to see come up in play (eg: a Blessed is going to emphasize religious practices and natural spirits), the starting situation and some recent history of the town, relationships between each other and NPCs, and some facts about the world. Finally, the most hopeful character makes a roll which determines the starting position for session 1 - will it be full of threats, have some interesting information, etc.I prepped: the Threats as established during Session 0 (what the Ranger said under their "This Way Something Wicked Comes" etc), and specifically Grim Portents that serve as an inciting event to pull on all the themes the players said they cared about to pull them out of town onto an Expedition. I also write down a few "I Wonder" questions: about the world, and about the Threats that were surfaced during session 0, nothing defined in detail but just "what does X really mean?" I also wrote down a few lines of details or sketched out a map of a location linked to a Threat as appropriate, and some ideas of what might come up in the geography on the way (thoughts I can offer or use on a 6-, or to tempt).At no point do I assume character action or inaction. At most, I create a set of things that push against the character's goals, ideals, beliefs, or give them opportunities to forward same.</blockquote>

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