Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
How Involved Should The DM Be As A Warlock's Patron?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Mad_Jack" data-source="post: 7401811" data-attributes="member: 6750306"><p>I generally tell players when I DM that their backstory WILL be coming up in play, and then ask them just how often, how much, and in what ways they'd like to see that happen. If the character's past is in the past, or they're not interested in being a full-time agent of whatever groups or factions they may belong to, I'm cool with limiting it to the occasional reference to those elements.</p><p> For characters with patrons (clerics, paladins, druids, warlocks, etc.) that they'll be interacting with, I try to have it be more of a low-key constant or once-in-awhile flavor thing rather than having them actually hijack the entire party for a quest or something similar - little things that I can handle with narrative description, such as describing how a warlock or cleric who makes a particular ability check might have their success represented by some sort of sign from their patron. Rarely ever as on-the-nose as wondering which path to take through the forest and suddenly a tree falls across one of them, but vague guidance in the form of minor signs isn't uncommon. Gods forbid I ever had a party with a priest of Odin and a Raven Queen warlock - they'd be absolutely <em>plagued</em> by talking crows, and would never know just when one of them might have some bit of information or a mission for them rather than just being chatty, lol. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mad_Jack, post: 7401811, member: 6750306"] I generally tell players when I DM that their backstory WILL be coming up in play, and then ask them just how often, how much, and in what ways they'd like to see that happen. If the character's past is in the past, or they're not interested in being a full-time agent of whatever groups or factions they may belong to, I'm cool with limiting it to the occasional reference to those elements. For characters with patrons (clerics, paladins, druids, warlocks, etc.) that they'll be interacting with, I try to have it be more of a low-key constant or once-in-awhile flavor thing rather than having them actually hijack the entire party for a quest or something similar - little things that I can handle with narrative description, such as describing how a warlock or cleric who makes a particular ability check might have their success represented by some sort of sign from their patron. Rarely ever as on-the-nose as wondering which path to take through the forest and suddenly a tree falls across one of them, but vague guidance in the form of minor signs isn't uncommon. Gods forbid I ever had a party with a priest of Odin and a Raven Queen warlock - they'd be absolutely [I]plagued[/I] by talking crows, and would never know just when one of them might have some bit of information or a mission for them rather than just being chatty, lol. ;) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
How Involved Should The DM Be As A Warlock's Patron?
Top