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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delphonso" data-source="post: 7159587" data-attributes="member: 6892015">Thank you all very much for your comments and advice. I've got a bit more to think about. I'm moving countries soon, so we won't be switching back to D&D for quite some time, but when we do I think I have a better idea of what to work with.In my free time, I've been designed a tabletop RPG game on my own. One of the biggest hassles for me right now is making the setting and how much detail I should put into it. I recently played some Shadowrun 5e, and reading that player's handbook nearly killed me. It was deeply fascinating, but so dense in information and detail that I was a bit paralyzed by the amount of rules and how things were supposed to work. This is some excellent advice and I really appreciate it. I often treat my players like idiots and spoon-feed them scenarios. I really should expect them to think things through more. As a player I wouldn't want to be treated that way.Yeah, D&D isn't the perfect system for this, but my party enjoys role-playing and I want to improve my ability to improvise. We chose D&D 5E before we chose who the GM would be. One of the reasons we switched to FFG: Star Wars was that it is much better set up for this sort of role-playing. I've been doing my best to keep things open and have even let players tell me what reward they want (which I would adjust to not be game breaking or empower if I think it's too weak). As far as narrative rewards or story rewards such as treasure maps or information, I haven't done much of this and the players haven't mentioned it either. I'll definitely give it a shot. The party has been very willing to give "evil" things a second chance.Yes, excellent. My party often wants to follow all the lines they can. I remember in one adventure, they followed every line I had set for them and basically accomplished 5 quests in one day... They showed up to the neighboring town with a cart full of prisoners (some bandits, a group of goblins, and a dishonest merchant) and handed them over to the local authorities. When I made a mystery where all the lines crossed each other or were opposed, they got incredibly frustrated. Ultimately, I think they liked that adventure but during it they were pulling their hair out.I'll check out this video when I get a chance. In the campaign we were handling, I had a rough idea of a map in my head, but I chose not to put it to paper, since I find myself too attached to my own world when I do that. One of the things I tried to do was let the party take some narrative control. I think it was from 13th Age, but I would let the party montage their travel. For example:DM: "Player A, as you travel to Fleafletch, you encounter some disturbance on the road. What is it?"Player A: "Uhhh... We find a couple travelling merchants trying to get a fallen tree off the road"Dm: "Excellent, Player B, how do you help these guys, or do you just choose to watch?"Player B: "I'm suspicious of an ambush, so I stay on guard while the others act."Player C: "I cast some spells to burn up the tree."Player A: "As he's working on that, I start on the other end chopping away with my axe."DM: "Great, you've turned the tree to ash and splinters. The merchants thank you with a gift. Player B, what do C and A get?"Player B: "They want to keep their wares for the next town, so they give A and C a sack of gold each. Maybe 50 for each player?"DM: "Sure, let's make that 75 for both of you."It's really not much but gives the players a little more control than I usually would give out. It also keeps everyone engaged in a situation that their character might not be engaged in. Other times I let them flesh out villages and towns by letting them describe what they see as they walk through town.I really like this. In the more successful adventures I've had with them, I only had an idea for the beginning and the end, and let the middle grow naturally. It has worked well, except in situations where the players didn't have much drive. I think this was my own fault for not having an interesting enough beginning for the players and their characters. And I think this is the most important thing for me to keep in mind. You're right - I take a lot of responsibility for the campaign as a whole, rather than just the setting. Maybe it's just my personality as a control freak. I think it has been hard for me to improve as a DM since I haven't had a lot of experiences of good DMing. My friends are rather imaginative people, and usually have stories they want to share. As players we enjoy observing more than interacting. I guess that's fine at the end of the day if we all feel satisfied, but I know it could be challenging for a different type of player to join. Again, thank you all so much. If you want any more detail, let me know. I think I'll take a long look at where the adventure started and how it got to where it is now, what the players most enjoyed and what needs to be avoided from now on.</blockquote>

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