I suck at DMing. Can anyone help?

[Celebrim]

Part #1

There is a lot of good advice to be gleaned above, and if followed with create campaigns with particular qualities which, if done well, will be a lot of fun.

I can only tell you how I create a campaign.

To begin with, as a novice you might want to start with some published modules as a kicking off point and as something a guide to how to assemble your ideas and create playable content.

But this is only a jumping off point. If all you do is play some other DM's adventure path and never try to make the world your own, you won't really exercise the muscles you need to exercise in order to make your own content or even handle complex play. You'll basically be a passenger on some other DM's railroad, and that can be fun, but it's not the ideal end state.

I like to begin my campaign by creating two separate pieces of context. The first is (as some others have suggested) the antagonist. And the second is the sandbox. But before you go about creating either one, I like to step back and ask a meta-question and that is, "What theme do I want to explore?"

Since I've already written that post, read this: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...lainous-plot&p=6440636&viewfull=1#post6440636

 

[Celebrim]

Part #2

So, hopefully you read my post on themes when creating villainous plots. I gave some sample themes, but perhaps you can come up with your own or are intrigued by different questions: "What is love?", "To who do we owe are utmost loyalty?", "How valuable is freedom?", "Can you change your destiny?", "Where does justice end and vengeance begin?", or whatever.

You then create an antagonist specifically to explore that theme and which resonates with that theme. You'll also want to try to link your player characters to those themes through relationships that you suggest or which are suggested by their backstory.

You then create a sandbox which will be the environment that (at least initially) your players and the antagonist will be exploring this theme. Initially they might be cross purposes, or perhaps initially they might seem to be going in the same direction. Perhaps your characters will all come down philosophically on the same side as the antagonist, in which case your antagonist will turn into the role of hero-mentor (the Obi Wan) and the hero-mentor will become the antagonist (the Vader).

So, pick a theme and we can get started.

 

[jhull]

And recently I found this article useful (the rest of the blog is interesting, but prone to One-True-Wayism, so take with a pinch of salt)

Would it surprise anyone that when I was growing up I always wanted to be the Dungeon Master? (and now I do it for my kids). To me, it was always about creating the experience of living in an actual story that I enjoyed while playing D&D, and was the thing that eventually led me to my career in story and screenwriting.

First off, I apologize for the "one-true" approach to my blog and the articles within. I feel very strongly when it comes to the Dramatica theory of story and its application to narratives in film, novel and plays and sometimes I can get a little carried away with my passion for it.

As far as creating a story ... here's a really easy way to think of your plot as a whole. Take these 4 words "Understanding", "Learning", "Obtaining" and "Doing" and put them in any order you want. Then use that order as the general "signposts" or major acts of your story. In other words, you could have your characters enter into a land where they learn that the world has changed around them and former friends are now foes (Learning), this could lead them to misunderstanding the motives of each other or violent action intended to make your heroes understand the seriousness of their situation (Understanding). This would lead your characters then to engage and track down the bad guys, perhaps entering their evil lair (Doing), and finally they would put forth all their efforts into apprehending the dragon's treasure or destroying the bad guy's master weapon (Obtaining).

If you want an example of this Act Order, watch Star Wars again

Or you could have your characters start out engaging with each other, doing their job the way they always have but something isn't quite right (Doing). This conflict could then lead to greater difficulty following through and completing what they originally set out to do to the point where they feel like giving up (Obtaining). This defeatist attitude would then require a complete 180 where the characters learn some Earth-shattering news (Learning) which then leads them to come to a new understanding of what is really going on (Understanding).

Watch The Sixth Sense to see this Act Order in action.

There a bunch of different combinations you can do with just these 4 terms that will gives you all kinds of different stories. Depending on whether or not you want your story to end in a Tragedy or a Triumph will actually determine the exact order these signposts occur, but for a general just getting started approach you can do them in any order you want.

If this sounds interesting to you or you want to try different plot combinations (like plots about the Past, the Present, the Future and How Things are Changing or perhaps you want to try Psychological Thriller all about Developing Plans, Conceiving Ideas, Playing Roles and Changing One's Nature!) I encourage you to visit the analysis page on the main Dramatica site (http://dramatica.com/analysis). There you'll find hundreds of different movies, plays and novels that have been analyzed by Dramatica Story Experts. Each narrative will have its own "storyform" that illustrates these Signposts and the order in which they occurred. So maybe you could find your favorite film and simply copy the order of those Signposts!

If you have any other questions feel free to ask me on my site (and yes, when I set up the adventures for my kids I do use this approach. They LOVE it and it makes them feel like they're really part of the story).

 

[delericho]

Would it surprise anyone that when I was growing up I always wanted to be the Dungeon Master?

No, that doesn't surprise me at all.

First off, I apologize for the "one-true" approach to my blog and the articles within. I feel very strongly when it comes to the Dramatica theory of story and its application to narratives in film, novel and plays and sometimes I can get a little carried away with my passion for it.

It's a great blog, and very interesting. And the article I linked, in particular, was hugely helpful - to the extent I found myself wondering why stuff like that wasn't ever even mentioned in high school. So, thank you.

 

[Wicht]

Would it surprise anyone that when I was growing up I always wanted to be the Dungeon Master?

Nope.

The only thing surprising is that in nine years, this is apparently your first post. I hope its not your last.

 

[Wicht]

Scanning through Mssr. Hull's blog I am struck by that fact (and I think this is on topic) that there is no single one right way to tell a story, develop a story or plot a story. It would drive me to distraction normally to try and analyze adventure writing according to any preset methods while doing the writing. I just go with what works for that particular adventure, instinctively I guess. It might have two acts, three acts or four. Likewise when I prepare talks or lessons, I don't outline them according to a preset method. Some have two main points, most have three main points, but sometimes I will have as many as seven points, depending on the subject matter. And the same is true when I do creative writing. I let the story dictate to me what sort of direction and form it should have and just generally go with it. Might have a broad outline, but seldom more than that.

That being said, I find it fascinating that there are ways of analyzing the patterns of stories (multiple ways actually) that show us the commonalities that successful stories might share. Good blog jhull.

 

[Eminence_Grise]

On a lighter note, I'm surprised no one mentioned Bill Cavalier. He probably has kick-ass suggestions on how not to suck as a DM.

 

[RevTurkey]

I used to suck as a DM. I have improved and I am now fantastically mediocre. That said, sometimes...my players have fun..maybe by accident!

My road to improvement was to run lots of published adventures for several different systems by several different publishers.

I learnt a lot. I learnt to start small and not be over ambitious. Let things unfold at their own pace.

I found running the following most helpful...

Running Castles & Crusades...Goodman Games modules. Good simple structures.
Running DCC...Goodman Games modules. Again, nice, concise adventures.
Savage World's Hellfrost modules from Triple Ace Games. Fine examples of how to take a plot from somewhere (TV etc) and reskin it or give it a new twist. Great.
Call of Cthulhu... Good for practicing keeping the plot and information in your head and remembering things and reacting to the unexpected.
Running a simple sandbox game (I used 5th D&D)..just build the place and let the players loose...if they are any good they will give the game direction probably.

I recently read the Fate Core rulebook and the scenario building section was good.

I think just have a go and keeping failing spectacularly until you improve. I did.

 

[Grogg of the North]

Have you asked your players what they want to do? What their character backstories are? If the party wants to explore The Never Ending Tomb of Tal Rasha (monty haul) go with it. If the party wants to investigate the mysterious disappearance of their parents (story driven game) go with it. If the party wants to explore what's beyond the Impassable Mountains (sandboxy) go with it. You can even combine all three! Your players can help drive the game for you with their own motivations. Don't be afraid to solicit feedback from your players. What did you like, dislike, or would have done differently? If you want to get more tidbits of information about your characters, assign them homework about their characters for little rewards (+1 to a die roll, extra vote when picking pizza toppings, whatever).

A simple thing that I had to learn the hard way is that you should assume that any must happen element will fail. That your PCs will look at the BBEG as he taunts the helpless villagers and say "F--- that noise. We go pirate hunting!" So take it session by session. Don't get too worried about what the PCs are going to be doing two levels from now, let alone two weeks.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Some good advice for everyone can be found in the Dungeon World concept of "Fronts," here: http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com/fronts

Second, when in doubt, threaten something that at least one of the PC's (the more the better) values. Figure out which player is most invested in his/her character's wants, needs, and loves. Threaten something he/she loves and he/she will rally the rest of the players to defend it.