Zardnaar
Legend
This thread is about various tricks I have picked up over the years. During the 3E era I forgot some of them as the game changed a bit finishing up very different at the end of 3.5 compared with how we played in early 3.0. Passing on 4E I ended up playing various clones and older TSR material along with picking up a few Pathfinder and Golarion books. A few things.
Ye Olde Campaign World.
Do you ever get frustrated that your campaign world is not as "good" as say the Realms, Darksun, Planescape etc (at least in terms of details)? Don't worry about it you are probably not a professional game designers. I recommend starting small and focusing on a single location such as a town or village perhaps a city. Expand your world from there. Think Threshold in the old Known World setting the PCs do not need to know everyth8ing about your world.
The Big Secret
This is often an over arching plot for the world. Think "I am your father" in Star Wars, the Draconic Prophecy in Eberron, the various secretive groups in the Realms etc. Treat it like the layers of an onion perhaps with a twist (you are Darth Revan). Perhaps an ancient race still exists in a far away corner of the world/multiverse or is in hiding or in stasis. It can be the focus of the campaign or in the back ground.
The Real World
The early TSR camapign settings (Known World, FR, Greyhawk) often had cultures lifted straight form earth with fantasy equivalents of the Mongols, Arabs, Ancient Egypt, Romans, Greeks, Venice, China etc etc etc. This has been continued into Paizos Golarion with fantasy versions of the USA, Byzantium, and Egypt for example. Don't nbe afraid to use these in a D&D and the 5E PHB even has pantheons drawn from Earth in the back. Perhaps rename those cultures such as Rome= Thyatis, Egpyt= Nithia, Greece= Milenians etc. A 5E light cleric could worship Apollofor example and being a tempest cleric of Zeus could be funny as you can throw thunder bolts of lightning very very frightening.
Adapting a Adventure.
To be honest I do not have time to rewrite an adventure but its not hard to write a 1 page adaption on a word processor for published adventure. For example rather than have the PCs go into a generic dungeon and kill a mummy that dungeon is now an ancient Nithian tomb for a reviled Pharoah. The Caves of Chaos could have been built by worshippers of Tharizidun, Apophis etc.
Add a few NPCs/side Quests.
These side quests do not have to be very detailed and you do not want to many of them. You can add perhaps 6 NPCs that want a variety of things and they can also be in the social and exploration pillars. Think of a Bioware game such as Knights of the Old Republic or the Mass Effect series. A scholar NPC for example might want a Nithian document (any will do) or a rubbing of an engraving while a collector might want a statue or other work of art. Other NPCs might just want in introduction to a PC patron or other NPC of influence.
Not All Villains Have to be Evil (or that villainous)
Whats worse than a CE insane cultist of a demonlord? A CR 1/8th LN tax collector who accosts the PCs once they get back to town. Other NPCs can just oppose the PCs socially or via gossip. One can't really strike them down or have them suspiciously turn up dead due to annoying the King/Emperor/High Archmage/Grand Lord Poobah.
Custom Mechanics
A few TSR worlds used to have custom mechanics such as defiling or the phases of the Moon (Darksun and Krynn). Some of them can be very complicated (Eberrons feats, prrestige classes and races) while others can be very simple (Mystara's day of Dread- 1 day a year magic doesn't function). Some of these can even be from the 5E DMG variant rules list. For example perhaps you want a harsh world like Darksun but with a twist on it and you make it an arctic type adventure. You change the short and long rest mechanics to the slow varian in the DMG (1 day/1 week vs 1 hour/1 day). However that applies out in the wilderness and in a few select "safe" locations the PCs can rest as per the PHB. I rarely do this and tend to keep it simple using a variant rule in a book or porting rules form an existing world (dead and wild magic in non FR worlds).
Encounter Guidelines
These do not really work all that well due to various play styles and mechanics. For example one group might use the standard array, another group uses point buy, another group uses 4d6 dice fall where they may and others wuill use 4d6 keep rolling until you get something you like (or 2-4 rolls YMMV). Magic items are another thing even in editions where there is a assumption over what you can own or buy (some players are a lot better at buying the right ones). The default 5E rules kind of assume a lower powered party that do not use things like feats. My solution to them is to erm not use them.
Reward Exploration and Social Encounters
2E was quite good at this if you used some optional rules and I have had PCs hit level 2 and 3 without actually fighting anything. Consider a hexcrawl big deal but hand out xp or milestones for the PCs to level up just by exploring the map. If they do not find keyed locations or hostile random encounters its possible to level up without fighting.As long as PCs are having fun and you "sell" it to them right they can often have fun doing this. Think of various open world video games such as the new Zelda or No Mans Sky. As much as one laughs at 3Es skill focus basket weaving modern games also incorporate crafting rules (which we used in 2E). 5E also has the inspiration mechanic and if the PCs achieve a goal perhaps even one like getting married reward them.
Buying and Selling Magic Items
This is not an explicit part of 5E but there are rules for it. I have done this as far back as AD&D. The difference over 3E and 4E is you can't just wander into a large enough town (or use a ritual)to get exactly the item you want. A PC might have a +1 silver dagger for sale or a decanter of endless water vs that flame tongue you really wanted. Some of the more powerful items should not be available for a price at all or come on the market perhaps once in a campaign. Treat them as either unique art work or if one wanted to go an buy a Tiger tank or very rare sports cars where there are less than 10 example existing of which they never come up for sale.
Ye Olde Campaign World.
Do you ever get frustrated that your campaign world is not as "good" as say the Realms, Darksun, Planescape etc (at least in terms of details)? Don't worry about it you are probably not a professional game designers. I recommend starting small and focusing on a single location such as a town or village perhaps a city. Expand your world from there. Think Threshold in the old Known World setting the PCs do not need to know everyth8ing about your world.
The Big Secret
This is often an over arching plot for the world. Think "I am your father" in Star Wars, the Draconic Prophecy in Eberron, the various secretive groups in the Realms etc. Treat it like the layers of an onion perhaps with a twist (you are Darth Revan). Perhaps an ancient race still exists in a far away corner of the world/multiverse or is in hiding or in stasis. It can be the focus of the campaign or in the back ground.
The Real World
The early TSR camapign settings (Known World, FR, Greyhawk) often had cultures lifted straight form earth with fantasy equivalents of the Mongols, Arabs, Ancient Egypt, Romans, Greeks, Venice, China etc etc etc. This has been continued into Paizos Golarion with fantasy versions of the USA, Byzantium, and Egypt for example. Don't nbe afraid to use these in a D&D and the 5E PHB even has pantheons drawn from Earth in the back. Perhaps rename those cultures such as Rome= Thyatis, Egpyt= Nithia, Greece= Milenians etc. A 5E light cleric could worship Apollofor example and being a tempest cleric of Zeus could be funny as you can throw thunder bolts of lightning very very frightening.
Adapting a Adventure.
To be honest I do not have time to rewrite an adventure but its not hard to write a 1 page adaption on a word processor for published adventure. For example rather than have the PCs go into a generic dungeon and kill a mummy that dungeon is now an ancient Nithian tomb for a reviled Pharoah. The Caves of Chaos could have been built by worshippers of Tharizidun, Apophis etc.
Add a few NPCs/side Quests.
These side quests do not have to be very detailed and you do not want to many of them. You can add perhaps 6 NPCs that want a variety of things and they can also be in the social and exploration pillars. Think of a Bioware game such as Knights of the Old Republic or the Mass Effect series. A scholar NPC for example might want a Nithian document (any will do) or a rubbing of an engraving while a collector might want a statue or other work of art. Other NPCs might just want in introduction to a PC patron or other NPC of influence.
Not All Villains Have to be Evil (or that villainous)
Whats worse than a CE insane cultist of a demonlord? A CR 1/8th LN tax collector who accosts the PCs once they get back to town. Other NPCs can just oppose the PCs socially or via gossip. One can't really strike them down or have them suspiciously turn up dead due to annoying the King/Emperor/High Archmage/Grand Lord Poobah.
Custom Mechanics
A few TSR worlds used to have custom mechanics such as defiling or the phases of the Moon (Darksun and Krynn). Some of them can be very complicated (Eberrons feats, prrestige classes and races) while others can be very simple (Mystara's day of Dread- 1 day a year magic doesn't function). Some of these can even be from the 5E DMG variant rules list. For example perhaps you want a harsh world like Darksun but with a twist on it and you make it an arctic type adventure. You change the short and long rest mechanics to the slow varian in the DMG (1 day/1 week vs 1 hour/1 day). However that applies out in the wilderness and in a few select "safe" locations the PCs can rest as per the PHB. I rarely do this and tend to keep it simple using a variant rule in a book or porting rules form an existing world (dead and wild magic in non FR worlds).
Encounter Guidelines
These do not really work all that well due to various play styles and mechanics. For example one group might use the standard array, another group uses point buy, another group uses 4d6 dice fall where they may and others wuill use 4d6 keep rolling until you get something you like (or 2-4 rolls YMMV). Magic items are another thing even in editions where there is a assumption over what you can own or buy (some players are a lot better at buying the right ones). The default 5E rules kind of assume a lower powered party that do not use things like feats. My solution to them is to erm not use them.
Reward Exploration and Social Encounters
2E was quite good at this if you used some optional rules and I have had PCs hit level 2 and 3 without actually fighting anything. Consider a hexcrawl big deal but hand out xp or milestones for the PCs to level up just by exploring the map. If they do not find keyed locations or hostile random encounters its possible to level up without fighting.As long as PCs are having fun and you "sell" it to them right they can often have fun doing this. Think of various open world video games such as the new Zelda or No Mans Sky. As much as one laughs at 3Es skill focus basket weaving modern games also incorporate crafting rules (which we used in 2E). 5E also has the inspiration mechanic and if the PCs achieve a goal perhaps even one like getting married reward them.
Buying and Selling Magic Items
This is not an explicit part of 5E but there are rules for it. I have done this as far back as AD&D. The difference over 3E and 4E is you can't just wander into a large enough town (or use a ritual)to get exactly the item you want. A PC might have a +1 silver dagger for sale or a decanter of endless water vs that flame tongue you really wanted. Some of the more powerful items should not be available for a price at all or come on the market perhaps once in a campaign. Treat them as either unique art work or if one wanted to go an buy a Tiger tank or very rare sports cars where there are less than 10 example existing of which they never come up for sale.
