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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 3343915" data-attributes="member: 7737">More on Rumors and "Just-In-Time DM'ing"First of all, here is the link I meant to post before --> <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=944596&postcount=35" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=944596&postcount=35</a>   This goes strait to the relevant post containing rumors, and not to my really outdated story hour thread.As a DM, I love rumors. Love them. They let me indulge my creativity but they don't require me to do any actual work until necessary (see below). Also, they let the players pick and choose what they want to do. I can then use that information to make future adventures more enticing to the players.For example, suppose I give out a list of N rumors. X of them involve some bad thing happening in a particular place, Y involve treasures in ancient ruins, and Z involve political intrigue. If the players ignore the X rumors and leap on the Y rumors, then I know that I should get out the graph paper and the random magic item tables in the DMG. If the players get really into the Z rumors, then I know that I should make more NPC-focused, role-playing heavy adventures.The second aspect of rumor-dissemination is that you eventually have to craft an adventure around the rumor. But I put this off as long as possible, so I call it "just-in-time DM'ing".Let me use a concrete example. Take the rumor about the pieces of Darklord Vashna's axe Gajikago being in the Maakengorge. I don't do anything about this until the PCs indicate that they are heading in that direction. Then, what do I need? * A large-scale map of the surrounding areas (which I already have because I stole the setting from somewhere else). * A small-scale map of whatever "dungeon" I want the party to investigate. I'll grab this from Dungeon magazine (Maps of Mystery are great for this) or from Wizards' online map gallery.* Some monsters for the PCs to fight. I can get these almost anywhere -- Dungeon mag, monster manuals, wizards.com . I can use DM Genie or another program to make advanced, templated, or classed monsters, or do it by hand if I must. This is the most time-consuming part of the process.* Some treasure, including the axe itself. I can randomly generate the treasure, or I can just grab some from another source (Draconomicon is nice for this). For the axe, I can make up some stats, or I can use a Weapon of Legacy or something.Notice that the above items are roughly in order of when I will need them. I can run an entire session off the large-scale map, essentially stalling for time until I allow the PCs to reach the small-scale "dungeon" map. I can then let them fight monsters in the dungeon and save the treasure generation for the session after that... ending on a cliffhanger as they defeat the final boss monster / find the hidden treasure room.In the actual campaign from which those rumors are taken, the PCs never went after Gajikago. Thus, I never had to do anything about making a dungeon, monsters, or treasure for that particular rumor.I never do any actual work until I have to. Because I've found over the years that much of my preparation is wasted. (Yes, I can save stuff to re-use, but only to a limited extent.)</blockquote>

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