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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Heard" data-source="post: 1681985" data-attributes="member: 7280">Here's my process for starting a campaign. As always, YMMV:First I decide the 'main theme of my game'. This is usually either:A. A villain (Yuan Ti, Dragons, Blackguards of a Corrupt church)B. Region (Any place on my campaign map that I liked last time or that I wanted to run but couldn't force the players to explore)C. Genre (pirates, ninjas, dinosaurs)D. Plot (usually reserved for when I'm feeling really self-loathing and have watched some movie that's removed my common sense)Usually I don't do ANYTHING with the main theme unless it's the genre or the region at first. If nothing else it's just too easy and if I'm running a game from 1st level the plot teasers start too early and screw up the pacing. Basically the players can get to expect leads and hooks too often if you give them too much, and that can lead to short campaigns and player dissatisfaction.Second, I approach the players with the vaguest explanation of my basic theme and my map and start hashing out their characters with them. I really encourage my players to help me at this point. Together we can usually come up with a better explanation why the weird character ideas they've got going on could come together than any lame thing I could come up with would be. I mean, sometimes I help by saying "You're all going to be sailors on the ship 'The Aerengyll', and you can't be these people so pick other things your characters could be doing on the ship besides be 'The Captain'." It works surprisingly well, except for the rare guy who thinks that they can't be bothered. After a few sessions of starting out as "Lord Reynold's Chiefest Foot Massager" or "Her Majesty's Security Detail of the Red Shirt", they pick up on the idea that even "I was a farmer, but I got tired of beets and met Frank on my way to make my fortune" can be better than letting ME fit them in.After the players are finished making characters, and they've given some indications on what sort of personalities and motivations they're working with though? The first session is almost half wrote right there, and since you've already began your communication with the players as the basis of the whole game you know you're probably not going to have a problem with people showing up with drunken monks to your deeply serious exploration of psuedo-philosophical medieval romance game - or at least if you do you'll have a big heads up and know to watch Brotherhood of the Wolf ahead of time.My first session I run is usually heavy on introductions with NPCs and minor encounters in a variety of settings, to get a feel for how the players are going to structure themselves in and out of combat. I tend to make it the "going to the adventure scene and outlining the mission' session and make it short just so that the players have time for revision after the game. After all, I expect people to stick with their characters and if you've suddenly decided that your transvestite dwarven monk wasn't as fun to play as you thought it might be I don't want to stand in your way to change things up sooner rather than later.After that the entire game I run is mostly dictated by pacing. If the players spend an hour of real time interacting with merchants and the lords of the city, and half of them are bored to tears then it's time for an encounter and the next session should run the opposite mix of dialogue versus action. If the players are nearing a conclusion-sort of area (accomplishing a minor goal) then the action should pick up. This is what 'random' encounters were made for IMO, and long-standing villians and NPCs wearing convenient red shirts. Nothing outlines 'danger' than the idea that as the players near their objectives they're slowly being picked off. Even more social sorts of games should have this sort of pacing buildup I think,and one of the key skills I've learned as a GM is the art of 'calling it a night' at the appropriate time. If you can time it so that players dramatically open the door to reveal the demons, discover that the prince is missing, or reveal the presence of an enemy in their midst at the end of a good session each time you've got it made.Oh yeah, and for the absolute best GM training? Be a player for a bunch of really awesome GMs, as many as you can find, using as many systems and styles of play as you can find. Playing with a lot of people is good too, because it gives you a better idea of what the masses of gamers are expecting and wanting when they suddenly sigh and start doodling rather than pay attention to your tediously rehearsed monologue.</blockquote>

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