Psikerlord#
Explorer
What "GM improvisation aids" would you like to see in a 5e medieval "sandbox" setting book ?
D&D 5E (2014) GM Improvisation Aids in 5e
- Thread starter Psikerlord#
- Start date
A list of professions (Mayor, Innkeeper, Alchemist, Farmer, Caravan Master, ...) with a bunch of 1-2 line entries for each with a name and some unique feature/desire/etc. Maybe a further subset slightly expanded with a side quest hook.
A list of town locations (Inn, Smithy, Temple, etc.) that could be used in any city/town with similarly brief name & description.
A bunch of maybe half-page NPCs who could be encountered in many different places (maybe a few each oriented toward city, caravan, countryside, dungeon, etc.).
A few unnamed villages, towns, river crossings, ruins, campsites, etc. with maps and named locations where appropriate that can be placed/used as needed.
Some local organizations that could be used in any town/city.
Some empty "town record sheets" with blanks for all the notes you might want to take (mayor, authorities, inns, factions, etc.) so I could be more organized about recording the details of a town that I improvised.
A list of town locations (Inn, Smithy, Temple, etc.) that could be used in any city/town with similarly brief name & description.
A bunch of maybe half-page NPCs who could be encountered in many different places (maybe a few each oriented toward city, caravan, countryside, dungeon, etc.).
A few unnamed villages, towns, river crossings, ruins, campsites, etc. with maps and named locations where appropriate that can be placed/used as needed.
Some local organizations that could be used in any town/city.
Some empty "town record sheets" with blanks for all the notes you might want to take (mayor, authorities, inns, factions, etc.) so I could be more organized about recording the details of a town that I improvised.
Inchoroi
Adventurer
A quick set of tables for generating random cities, as well as many little adventures, sidequests, and dungeons spread throughout the map--also, a detailed hexcrawl-style map. Even the good sandbox settings, like Frog God Games' Sword of Air, don't have all the details put in it, which drives me bonkers.
Organization is key, as well, as mentioned above. The better organized it allows a DM to be, and promotes a DM to be, the better.
Organization is key, as well, as mentioned above. The better organized it allows a DM to be, and promotes a DM to be, the better.
Inchoroi
Adventurer
Also this. I record every session and then listen to them, taking notes. Makes things a lot more concrete on the next session.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
There's plenty out there to flesh out details to make it real (professions, etc), what would be new would be more things to make it easier to run. For improv I'd want things to help me when players stray from what I have prepared and I need to fill in NOW - even if it's not complete, I can flesh things out between sessions.
1. A random hooks table (per environment) that I could then run with. Like a Forest entry might have "Rats nailed to trees with black iron nails. Perhaps it's a boundary, warning or path.", while Road might have things like "Criminal hanging in a gimlet at minor crossroads" with a short sub-table of options like "insists is innocent" or "guilty but helped the PCs in the past"
2. A table of memorable personality quirks - not just things like "curious" which are generic and blend in with others, but things like "unhealthy interest in the details of the gore of combat" that makes NPCs memorable. Perhaps with a sister trait table: "almost skeletally thin", "talks with a rasp and has a noose scar on his throat", "stares without blinking" - together you can generate someone whm will stick in the player's minds.
3. Non-combat hazards, again by area. Not leveled, but with advice how to scale appropriately. Pickpockets, washed out bridges, flash flood, stampede of catoblepas/zombie lemmings/bulettes.
1. A random hooks table (per environment) that I could then run with. Like a Forest entry might have "Rats nailed to trees with black iron nails. Perhaps it's a boundary, warning or path.", while Road might have things like "Criminal hanging in a gimlet at minor crossroads" with a short sub-table of options like "insists is innocent" or "guilty but helped the PCs in the past"
2. A table of memorable personality quirks - not just things like "curious" which are generic and blend in with others, but things like "unhealthy interest in the details of the gore of combat" that makes NPCs memorable. Perhaps with a sister trait table: "almost skeletally thin", "talks with a rasp and has a noose scar on his throat", "stares without blinking" - together you can generate someone whm will stick in the player's minds.
3. Non-combat hazards, again by area. Not leveled, but with advice how to scale appropriately. Pickpockets, washed out bridges, flash flood, stampede of catoblepas/zombie lemmings/bulettes.
Psikerlord#
Explorer
thanks folks some great ideas and I have added them to my list
aco175
Legend
I always need a few encounters lined up that may or may not need to be part of the story. I have a couple around their level and a few lower to use in case things go sideways or slow down. Just make sure that they lead to the planned adventure or get boring real quick so players go back to what they were doing and not think that the distraction is the main module.
Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad
I found Vornheim: The Complete City Kit, by Zak Smith, to be a highly useful improvisation toolkit for running the kind of city described in that book. Something similar, for a medieval city or town, would be really great.
1. Useful random encounter tables, by environment. I really like the example "Sylvan Forest" table in the DMG, and would like to see a lot more like this, including variants for certain environments (e.g. Forest, Deep Forest, Cold Forest, Sylvan Forest, Haunted Forest...).
2. Battle maps, by environment. When the party gets into a scrap in the forest, I'd like to have a selection of forest maps in which to place the encounter. Not too many -- maybe 3-5 per environment. This would be a very expensive product, since quality map-making does not come cheap.
3. Big list of interesting traps, puzzles, hazards, and obstacles. I have a lot of trouble coming up with fun dungeon puzzles on the fly (and the best traps/hazards/etc. are actually puzzles). It's a huge problem for me because I love improv-style gaming, but I also love a good dungeon crawl, and I find the things that make dungeon crawls entertaining require a lot of forethought.
4. Are you familiar with any of the Savage Worlds Plot Point settings, with their "Savage Tales?" These are like mini-adventures, along the weight of, "You find a treasure map that leads to a crypt hidden in the bend of a river. Six wights, one of which is a leader with maximum hit points and a +2 longsword, guard a treasure containing 3,000 electrum pieces and 4,000 copper pieces." Actually some of the Savage Tales get much more elaborate than that, but usually not more than 2 pages or so. I like the Savage Tales because they are a bit more robust than a plot hook -- they don't just give you the start of a mini-adventure, they give you the whole thing -- but they are small enough that you can just drop them in where-ever you need them.
2. Battle maps, by environment. When the party gets into a scrap in the forest, I'd like to have a selection of forest maps in which to place the encounter. Not too many -- maybe 3-5 per environment. This would be a very expensive product, since quality map-making does not come cheap.
3. Big list of interesting traps, puzzles, hazards, and obstacles. I have a lot of trouble coming up with fun dungeon puzzles on the fly (and the best traps/hazards/etc. are actually puzzles). It's a huge problem for me because I love improv-style gaming, but I also love a good dungeon crawl, and I find the things that make dungeon crawls entertaining require a lot of forethought.
4. Are you familiar with any of the Savage Worlds Plot Point settings, with their "Savage Tales?" These are like mini-adventures, along the weight of, "You find a treasure map that leads to a crypt hidden in the bend of a river. Six wights, one of which is a leader with maximum hit points and a +2 longsword, guard a treasure containing 3,000 electrum pieces and 4,000 copper pieces." Actually some of the Savage Tales get much more elaborate than that, but usually not more than 2 pages or so. I like the Savage Tales because they are a bit more robust than a plot hook -- they don't just give you the start of a mini-adventure, they give you the whole thing -- but they are small enough that you can just drop them in where-ever you need them.
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