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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6081134" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 306: April 2003part 8/9DM's toolbox: Skip and Penny both have their own articles this issue, plus they team up on this column as well. Busy busy busy. This is a list of ways you can fake out your players, to make sure they're more likely to follow the plot you've created and keep the game fun. (for you, at least) They definitely tend towards the sadistic, keeping the information the players have unreliable, and letting them dig their own grave that way. While there's the usual warning not to railroad them and make their choices irrelevant, I'm strongly reminded that Skip's published adventures have tended to get pretty negative reviews, and I do have to wonder how much that bleeds into his own games (which according to his profile in issue 276 he doesn't get to run much anyway) I'm definitely dubious of this particular bit of advice. It just looks like it's more likely to blow up in your face than help. Dungeoncraft: Monte finishes off his little series on city adventuring by talking about  the adventures themselves. This is where we're really reminded that he's regularly running adventures in Ptolus at the moment, and so these observations are born from plenty of actual play experience. (unlike Skip's) There's tons of adventures you can have without ever leaving the city limits, and even those that are slightly outside will be influenced by the knowledge that healing and restocking is within easy reach if you have the money. In fact one of the problems might be that you find yourself with too many options. The secret is to make sure you build stuff one step ahead of your players, and then to keep everything you make for future use, so you don't have to do so much work later. Creating flowcharts of where the adventure is likely to go is a better idea than detailed physical maps, especially if you haven't done the research on all the various things a functional community needs. (the toilets and bedrooms in dungeons problem writ large.) Similarly, timelines of what will happen if the PC's don't interfere keep the plot rolling nicely, and make sure they can't solve the problem on 15 minute workdays and only acting when fully charged up and prepared. And if you're playing in a game with plentiful magic, make sure the NPC's prepare accordingly, so PC's can't short-circuit the whole thing with one spell. Yup, that one's probably born out of bitter experience. This all seems like advice worth heeding, formed through trial and error as it is. Hopefully that way, your own adventure building'll be slightly less of a trial.</blockquote>

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