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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aaron2" data-source="post: 1650453" data-attributes="member: 1436">I've found over the years that getting a specific tone is probably the hardest thing for a DM to do. So much depends on the players; during the course of my campaign, the tone has changed, without me doing anything, when a player joins or leaves. First get a stable set of players and work from there. Some suggstions ...1) Start small. Don't assume because you've spent hours developing a campaign world or NPC that the players will care. Keep the game focused in a small area (a city works great) and reuse characters and places from game to game. Slowly introduce elements (such as NPC and organizations) so the players can easily keep track of them. Have a high level NPC deliberately go out of his way to annoy the party etc. A well written backstory can't compete with one that the players have lived through.2) Spend time developing the area where battles will take place. Deliberately add things the party can use to their advantage (chandaleres, tables covered with objects, empty barrels to hide in or behind). I spend some prep time drawing out the map on large sheets of 1" graph paper. Think about the use of minis: I've seen players that when not using minis just assume the battle is taking place in an empty, featureless plane. Likewise, I've seen creative players turn into chess players by the presence of miniatures. See which works better for your group.3) If a character has a number on his sheet, most player will, even if subconsciously, want that number to be as high as possible. Consider the use of an Honor or Reputation stat to give the players something other than character level to strive for. Some rules from Unearthed Arcana might work. A Reputation or Honor bonus for joining a particular fencing school, for example, might be just the encouragement the player needs to seek out membership. Do everything you can to get the player to become involved in the workings of the game world instead of just being the typical wandering band of mercenaries.Aaron</blockquote>

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