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Piratecat ruined my D&D game
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<blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 3317203" data-attributes="member: 7737"><p>Lots of good advice in this thread. I'll add my tidbit.</p><p></p><p><strong>Quasqeton</strong> (and others), have you read "Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering"? One of the things that really struck me in that book was the following -- most of the time, the players don't have any idea what's going on or what they're supposed to be doing. So, if you're the DM, you've got to give them ample guidance.</p><p></p><p>Once I read this, a lightbulb went off over my head, and my games started to get a lot better. Before, I would be frustrated with my players. How could they fail to act on the dozens of hints, rumors, prophecies, psychic visions, dying words of mysterious strangers, omens, signs, and portents? Well, perhaps they didn't act on any of those things because they were completely confused and overwhelmed.</p><p></p><p>So I made everything a lot more direct: one night, each PC's god/dess appeared to him/her, and asked or commaned the PC to do something. Like magic, the PCs turned their resources towards doing that thing, with laser-like precision and with utter dedication.</p><p></p><p>This actually forced me to become a better DM, because now when I want to throw in a side-quest, I have to answer the question, Why would the PCs do this instead of pursuing their divine mandate? Coming up with a reason that the side-quest is somehow essential to the overarching plot -- it's fun!</p><p></p><p>If you can get the players to buy into The Big Quest (tm), I think you'll see a lot more of the continuity that you observe in games like Piratecat's or Sagiro's.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Joshua Randall, post: 3317203, member: 7737"] Lots of good advice in this thread. I'll add my tidbit. [B]Quasqeton[/B] (and others), have you read "Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering"? One of the things that really struck me in that book was the following -- most of the time, the players don't have any idea what's going on or what they're supposed to be doing. So, if you're the DM, you've got to give them ample guidance. Once I read this, a lightbulb went off over my head, and my games started to get a lot better. Before, I would be frustrated with my players. How could they fail to act on the dozens of hints, rumors, prophecies, psychic visions, dying words of mysterious strangers, omens, signs, and portents? Well, perhaps they didn't act on any of those things because they were completely confused and overwhelmed. So I made everything a lot more direct: one night, each PC's god/dess appeared to him/her, and asked or commaned the PC to do something. Like magic, the PCs turned their resources towards doing that thing, with laser-like precision and with utter dedication. This actually forced me to become a better DM, because now when I want to throw in a side-quest, I have to answer the question, Why would the PCs do this instead of pursuing their divine mandate? Coming up with a reason that the side-quest is somehow essential to the overarching plot -- it's fun! If you can get the players to buy into The Big Quest (tm), I think you'll see a lot more of the continuity that you observe in games like Piratecat's or Sagiro's. [/QUOTE]
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