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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 5510260" data-attributes="member: 151">Some suggestions, both practical and theoretical.<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Think Global, Design Local - It's been mentioned, but is good to be reinforced.  In most campaigns, you set up somewhere relatively small and then branch further out as the heroes adventures carry them far afield.  This saves you work AND sanity.  The players don't need to know the layout of the fallen city of Gandros until they actually GO THERE.  Until then, they merely need to know it exists and some simple lore about it.  Lore that, by the way, could be totally wrong.  But you DO need to know what's in the cave down in Tarwin's Gap just 2 miles out of town, if the players know of it.  If you're working off of a story arc, decide only the broadest of strokes.  If you're doing a sandbox, design only so far ahead...and plant HONEYPOTS to lure the players to the work you've done.  Sure, there's a mark on the town map about the cave down in the gap...but if a man stumbles in to the tavern and swears that a creature just killed his prize mule and dragged it off to the cave, it's more exciting.  If he says that he spied some strange men crossing his land all with strange yellow armbands on their shoulders and he followed them to the gap....it inspires curiousity more than simply 'cave' on the map.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Don't be aftraid to STEAL - Seriously, I can't stress this enough.  The work in maintaining your own homebrew setting comes down to two things: Rules Prep and Ideas.  Just because you have a printed module doesn't mean you have to use it verbatim.  Quite the opposite.  Steal the set piece encounter and scratch the numbers off.  Take a generic monster, 're-skin' it and present it to the players (you'd be surprised how exciting an encounter becomes when a standard creature with a new coat of paint shows up:  Take an Owlbear, for example, turn it into a thing of undead bone and slightly change it's stats...the party will react totally differently to it).  The point here is to save yourself work.  Running the game is supposed to be FUN, not a chore.  Don't ignore perfectly good sources of material.  I needed a village for my game.  I could have designed the whole thing...but instead I just used one out the DMG and then just changed it to suit my needs.  Renamed it, changed two buildings and even used the NPCs with a minor change.  Quick and easy.  ENWorld is a great resource for this, naturally.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Be Prepared to CHANGE IT ALL - Remember, the players don't know your grand plans.  Be prepared to change anything.  In my 3E game that ran 8 years straight, the players were originally going to fight a big bad evil guy.  Yadda yadda yadda.  But when he showed up, my players reacted to him differently than expected.  Moreover, the story evolved away from him being the BBEG.  The player's personal stories guided things to another place and a new foe arrived...and it was one of the best games I ever ran.  The players didn't know that the story had changed...because they didn't know what it was to begin with.  Sometimes the story will take you somewhere else...sometimes you don't even KNOW what the story is.  Let it carry you like the tides.  Heck, put out odd tidbits and let the players interpert them AND THEN USE THIER IDEAS.  I've done this on several occassions.  On other occassions, the players came up with a better story idea than what I had planned...and so I changed it to match their idea.  Win-Win.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Talk to Your Players - Seriously, if you take no other idea, then let it be this one.  Just asking two questions will make your game better.  1 - "So, how did you guys enjoy the session?" and 2 - "So where would you like to see your character going?".  You don't have to immediately change the game to what they want...but see if they're having fun and see what you can do to accomomdate their goals.  Motivated players will follow stories and breadcrumbs with an almost religious fervor.  One player has a family?  Use them.  Another player is chasing the man who murdered her father?  Drop clues to his location.  They can be false leads, sometimes (though don't tease players, just use this as a plot element).  Players who perceive that you're giving them stories for their characters are usually motivated to advance them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Brainstorm - As Rel mentions, I spend much more time, generally, THINKING about the game than actually working on game material.  Ideas trump rules, IMHO.  Take the dog for a walk, take a drive with the radio on or just chill.  Let your mind wander.  Think in broad strokes.  "Zorban's going to try and climb the Dead Tower.  What's in there?  Why's it called that?  Will the city watch find out?  What would they do if they did?  What is Lady Delia doing while Zorban's off at the tower?  How would she react if Zorban gets arrested?  Hmmmmm...."  Just understanding major NPCs and monsters is worth the effort.  I know that Sir Kelvin would die before dishonor and is hot-headed.  It's all I know about him, but it's enough for now.  When the players humiliate him in the public square, I know that Kelvin would react badly.  He demands a battle on the field of honor!  But a player suddenly says he'll try and make amends, give him a way to save face diplomatically.  If I know what kind of man Kelvin is, I know if that will be easy or hard.  Perhaps he'll become a PC ally...or a lasting enemy.  Knowing the IDEA of Kelvin ahead of time lets me decide on the fly.  IMHO, good characters MAKE a story, not the other way around.   Personally, I enjoy listening to soundtracks while thinking on the plot.  I've had some of my best ideas while driving to get Chinese take-out 20 minutes prior to the game. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Keep Rough Notes - Make stuff up on the fly, but then keep quickie notes as you do it.  Players will do stuff you don't expect...but if you improvise, it can be useful.  The players decide to visit the local temple.  You have no idea who the head priest is...so on the fly you say "Oh, the head priest is Father Alvin...he worships Pelor.  He's chubby and good-natured and blesses the party."  Now make a note of that for later.  Bring him back, especially if he makes an impression.  If you drop a hint off the cuff, keep a note of it for later use.  Continuity creates the illusion of planning and prep-work.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Enlist the Players - Let your players help develop the world and keep notes, if they want.  One of my players keeps rough notes and shares them on Google Docs.  Let them create elaborate backstories, if they want.  Let them know you can't guarantee you'll use them the way they're offered, but some players love to help.  LET THEM.  Poll them periodically on what they're thinking, either through e-mail or off-line.  Let them develop content that you can approve/change, like their own Paragon Paths, for example.</li> </ol></blockquote>

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