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please post advice for novice DM like myself
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9063790" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>This may not necessarily be advice you want to hear...but I hope it will be useful.</p><p></p><p>You must accept that your players will <em>never</em> do things perfectly according to plan. As you come to know them and their playstyle better, you will get better at predicting them, but it is simply not possible to predict every choice they make.</p><p></p><p>So <strong>don't</strong>. Don't even try to. You'll just stress yourself out and feel bad when things go off the rails.</p><p></p><p>Instead, embrace this fact. Don't prepare stories, prepare <em>events</em>. Don't prepare plots, prepare <em>challenges</em>. Fill the world with adventure, and let the players decide what they will engage with. If they ignore something dangerous or harmful, let it grow, fester, worsen. Don't be <em>punitive</em> about it, but if they repeatedly decide not to deal with the reports of undead in the countryside, it's okay to have those undead show up somewhere that the players would <em>really really</em> like to NOT have crawling with undead! Meanwhile, if there's something the players are investing a ton of attention into, roll with that. Obviously, if they care that much about it, it matters to them!</p><p></p><p>You can still have an overall "story" idea for the world and strong thematic elements. They will just grow organically rather than being enforced from on high. You can have recurring villains (though you probably want to give them some way of escaping or coming back from the dead!), you can have major "plot points" like attacks against a city or even entire wars, plagues, scheming manipulators, etc., just prepare these as <em>events</em> rather than as very fixed sequences of specific things that must happen for it to be "right." E.g., don't make a <em>plotline</em> about the Duke being assassinated so his sister can assume the throne; instead, prepare the <em>event</em> of the Duke's (attempted) assassination, and let the players loose on it. If they succeed, great, now they have a grateful ally and a mystery on their hands (who tried to assassinate him?) If they fail, great, now they have a revenge story--or perhaps the assassination gets pinned on them, if they fail especially badly! </p><p></p><p>That's the power of preparing events and situations rather than "stories" per se. Instead of needing the players to read your mind and silently fill the roles they're "supposed" to fill, you instead simply set a stage and let them figure out what happens. Then, after, you determine what the logical consequences of that "what happens" should be, and set a new stage for the players to figure out what happens. Lather, rinse, repeat.</p><p></p><p>TAKE NOTES! I cannot stress this enough! TAKE. NOTES. Several times I've had to just admit, "I no longer remember what happened. We'll figure it out."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9063790, member: 6790260"] This may not necessarily be advice you want to hear...but I hope it will be useful. You must accept that your players will [I]never[/I] do things perfectly according to plan. As you come to know them and their playstyle better, you will get better at predicting them, but it is simply not possible to predict every choice they make. So [B]don't[/B]. Don't even try to. You'll just stress yourself out and feel bad when things go off the rails. Instead, embrace this fact. Don't prepare stories, prepare [I]events[/I]. Don't prepare plots, prepare [I]challenges[/I]. Fill the world with adventure, and let the players decide what they will engage with. If they ignore something dangerous or harmful, let it grow, fester, worsen. Don't be [I]punitive[/I] about it, but if they repeatedly decide not to deal with the reports of undead in the countryside, it's okay to have those undead show up somewhere that the players would [I]really really[/I] like to NOT have crawling with undead! Meanwhile, if there's something the players are investing a ton of attention into, roll with that. Obviously, if they care that much about it, it matters to them! You can still have an overall "story" idea for the world and strong thematic elements. They will just grow organically rather than being enforced from on high. You can have recurring villains (though you probably want to give them some way of escaping or coming back from the dead!), you can have major "plot points" like attacks against a city or even entire wars, plagues, scheming manipulators, etc., just prepare these as [I]events[/I] rather than as very fixed sequences of specific things that must happen for it to be "right." E.g., don't make a [I]plotline[/I] about the Duke being assassinated so his sister can assume the throne; instead, prepare the [I]event[/I] of the Duke's (attempted) assassination, and let the players loose on it. If they succeed, great, now they have a grateful ally and a mystery on their hands (who tried to assassinate him?) If they fail, great, now they have a revenge story--or perhaps the assassination gets pinned on them, if they fail especially badly! That's the power of preparing events and situations rather than "stories" per se. Instead of needing the players to read your mind and silently fill the roles they're "supposed" to fill, you instead simply set a stage and let them figure out what happens. Then, after, you determine what the logical consequences of that "what happens" should be, and set a new stage for the players to figure out what happens. Lather, rinse, repeat. TAKE NOTES! I cannot stress this enough! TAKE. NOTES. Several times I've had to just admit, "I no longer remember what happened. We'll figure it out." [/QUOTE]
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