Asmor
First Post
Hey, I'm gonna be attempting to start a game once more in a couple weeks, and I'm going to try to be a bit more organized than in the past (For reference, the moment I actually put pen to paper, I will have surpassed me previous level of organization ^_^ That might explain why the past games have fallen apart so quickly... But what do you want, I'm inexperienced and would rather be a player anyways, but none of my friends are even willing to try DMing so it's the only way I can play. But I digress...).
To that end, I'm probably going to try and develop a checklist, and possibly a worksheet, for sessions and stories as a whole. For example, a session checklist might look something like:
*3 scenes, including at least 1 combat and 1 social
*Couple NPCs per scene
*List of names of an appropriate style for unexpected interaction
*Stat blocks for all expected encounters
*Stat blocks for random encounters
While a story checklist would be something like...
*2 plot twists
*3 important quests
*5 optional side-quests
As for a worksheet... Well, I'm not entirely sure where I'd start with that. Something that would start at the ending and build from there, prodding you along to make clues, plot twists, etc. Basically, the worksheet would be to help organize thoughts and fill out the parts of the story checklist.
So anyways, what I'm looking for are mainly suggestions on what to add to the checklists and what sort of numbers I should shoot for. I realize that no two campaigns are alike, but I'm just trying to create something a n00b DM (i.e. me, but I'd love it if it helped other people too) can use to try and get organized and motivated and keep a cohesive game.
Incidentally, I'm expecting about 2 hours of actual game time... That's a conservative estimate after taking a large chunk out for all the stuff that always eats away at game time like settling down and getting into the groove, ordering food, etc. I know for sure I've got 2 players, and I'm hoping to expand that to 4, but that's mildly unlikely.
To that end, I'm probably going to try and develop a checklist, and possibly a worksheet, for sessions and stories as a whole. For example, a session checklist might look something like:
*3 scenes, including at least 1 combat and 1 social
*Couple NPCs per scene
*List of names of an appropriate style for unexpected interaction
*Stat blocks for all expected encounters
*Stat blocks for random encounters
While a story checklist would be something like...
*2 plot twists
*3 important quests
*5 optional side-quests
As for a worksheet... Well, I'm not entirely sure where I'd start with that. Something that would start at the ending and build from there, prodding you along to make clues, plot twists, etc. Basically, the worksheet would be to help organize thoughts and fill out the parts of the story checklist.
So anyways, what I'm looking for are mainly suggestions on what to add to the checklists and what sort of numbers I should shoot for. I realize that no two campaigns are alike, but I'm just trying to create something a n00b DM (i.e. me, but I'd love it if it helped other people too) can use to try and get organized and motivated and keep a cohesive game.
Incidentally, I'm expecting about 2 hours of actual game time... That's a conservative estimate after taking a large chunk out for all the stuff that always eats away at game time like settling down and getting into the groove, ordering food, etc. I know for sure I've got 2 players, and I'm hoping to expand that to 4, but that's mildly unlikely.
