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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenmarable" data-source="post: 4765029" data-attributes="member: 40359">My (long-winded, sorry) advice both from my own experience and in thinking what might work best for a first time DM is:#1: Campaign Theme/HookCome up with a general theme/motivation for the campaign. This is best if it’s done with the players as well. For example, I ran an Eberron campaign based around Morgrave University and most of the PCs were students or professors (but also had a journalist along as well). Of course I had all kinds of grand plans, but it was great having some grounding hook for everyone that most of the adventures could spring up from.Other ones I’ve used are artifact hunters, resurrecting dead gods (that one is Epic level, of course), survivors of locations wiped out by an undead army teaming up to stop it, escaped slaves fleeing through the Underdark, group of powerful heroes called from across the nation to help with a giant invasion, and so on.The entire campaign need not be tied to that theme, but sometimes it is (like the Morgrave or undead army ones), and others are just starting points that wind up leading elsewhere (like the escaped slave one led to being in the middle of a battle between two gods).#2: Start simpleMy best adventure beginnings have often had nothing to do with the overall campaign. It’s to the point where I now just plan on something mostly unrelated to start things off, but maybe has some hooks for the future (like meeting a mysterious patron who wants to employ them for much of the campaign). This also helps the players because in the first couple few sessions, they are most likely still getting into their PCs and working on understanding them (mechanics and personality). So you don’t want to be dumping too much heavy campaign info on them until after they are comfortable with their PCs.#3: Be flexible if you want a full epic storylineI’ve tried having everything clearly planned out with intricate links, and that has always utterly failed. What has worked great, however, is having just pieces of the puzzle. For example, this NPC has some major secret that will come into play in any of 2 or 3 possible ways. Or I would like this certain event to happen, but it can fit into the storyline a couple different places. Players will focus on things you planned on being insignificant and will entirely skip paths you had planned. Minor, throw-away villains will take on a life of their own and become major players, and sometimes even the major villains will be pushed off stage as no longer relevant.So rather than planning out everything, I’ve found it works best to pick out the elements that you are most interested in including (also taking a hard look at whether those elements are fun for the players – I dumped entire really cool subplots after I realized the PCs would just be spectators). Then keep your focus on those and how to shift the current events to see how you can take advantage of them to bring in those elements. Does that make sense? So instead of trying to steer that action towards some outcome, look for opportunities that arise to grab onto. I’m to the point now where I try not to plan any details beyond the next session. Even the session after that is fuzzy and vague until I know what happens this time.#4: Look for hooks from the playersAlso, the best plots I’ve run have pretty much all come from player ideas. If you ask a player “what sort of stuff would you like your PC to be involved in?” 8 times out of 10, you’ll get nothing (and 2 times out of 10, you’ll get entire treatises and elaborate stories rivaling any TV drama and far too much to use). Instead ask players for backgrounds – especially if you can give them specific questions. For example, in the Eberron campaign, I asked them what their PC did during the Last War. One of them was a Jorasco halfling cleric, and thinking about that one question came up with the idea of being a pacifist who deserted during the war. So sometimes the questions can lead to background ideas that then lead to fun subplots.Ask about family members (another player in the Eberron campaign had an illegitimate daughter that she had to give up. Now there’s some story potential I would never have come up with on my own!) Ask about mentors. Ask about interests beyond combat and adventuring – “If you weren’t an adventurer or decided to retire, what sort of career do you think you would have?”Even as you go along, it can be useful. At-Will has a nice <a href="http://at-will.omnivangelist.net/?p=528" target="_blank">blog</a> about that just today infact. It talks about assigning homework to your players. Good stuff that I’m definitely going to include.#5: Flesh out NPCs, but be prepared for them to be ignoredI try to have most of the NPCs they interact with socially (as opposed to kill and take their stuff) to have an adventure hook or two. Maybe it’s something simple like needing a delivery, or the merchant’s daughter is sneaking away at night to visit her half-orc love. Or maybe it’s something much larger like the weird guy running the scroll shop is part of a secret organization and is watching the PCs as potential recruits. 90% of these hooks are never followed or even mentioned. But sometimes the players will find a NPC interesting, and then I toss the hook out there and see if they want to follow up and make that NPC even more involved. Often it’s still ignored, but then, at least, it’s the players’ choice. But if they ever do pick up on one of the hooks, it is rewarding to see a throw-away NPC just needed to buy and sell weapons, become a major influence in the campaign. But now I have rambled long enough, and much longer than I planned. Either way, just have fun.</blockquote>

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