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<blockquote data-quote="Jixan" data-source="post: 1310596" data-attributes="member: 6177">My friends and I are in the midst of a campaign which I am DM'ing. I recently asked for suggestions on ways to improve the campaign.&nbsp; Several of the players suggested that I needed to provide more direction as DM.&nbsp; This board is always full of good advice, so I thought I would ask here what a good balance is between too much and too little direction.&nbsp; I'd like to use a real example from my campaign and get your opinions.Here's the scenario:The campaign world has been invaded by an organized army of extra-planar beings bent on domination.&nbsp; The party has escaped their once quiet little village during the invasion (a portal to the outer planes opened nearby) and escaped to the mountains, trying to stay alive and survive run-ins with the outsiders.&nbsp; The party has reached fourth level and have changed from a defensive mindset to a more offensive approach.&nbsp; This means that they are starting to strike back by staging ambushes on the enemies.Near the town is a Druid grove that is an ancient place of power.&nbsp; The druid grove has been taken over and is in the process of being corrupted and turned to the outsider's purposes by enemy Warlocks.&nbsp; The Warlocks are using a ritual involving black pearl powder as their catalyst.&nbsp; However, they've run out of powder because the grove was stronger than they anticipated and are unable to finish the job.&nbsp; The grove is on the brink of collapse, but the Warlocks can't turn it completely without more powder.&nbsp; Should the Warlocks succeed, they will use the power of the grove to swing the tide of the war in their favor.&nbsp; It would be a crushing blow.&nbsp; So, what the Warlocks have done is sent two messengers to the outsider armies in the east requesting a supply of powder to be sent at once.&nbsp; The party has intercepted one of the messengers and discovered all of this information.&nbsp; The party is also too weak to take on the Warlocks directly.Hopefully that's enough info to bring you up to date.&nbsp; So, here is the question:&nbsp; As DM, to what extent do I lead them to a way to stop this powder from coming from the east?On one hand, I think...hey, let the party use it's collective brain and figure out some possibilities on their own, then work with what they come up with.On the other hand, I have them asking for more DM direction.&nbsp; I'm not sure how to proceed.Thoughts?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jixan, post: 1310596, member: 6177"] My friends and I are in the midst of a campaign which I am DM'ing. I recently asked for suggestions on ways to improve the campaign. Several of the players suggested that I needed to provide more direction as DM. This board is always full of good advice, so I thought I would ask here what a good balance is between too much and too little direction. I'd like to use a real example from my campaign and get your opinions. Here's the scenario: The campaign world has been invaded by an organized army of extra-planar beings bent on domination. The party has escaped their once quiet little village during the invasion (a portal to the outer planes opened nearby) and escaped to the mountains, trying to stay alive and survive run-ins with the outsiders. The party has reached fourth level and have changed from a defensive mindset to a more offensive approach. This means that they are starting to strike back by staging ambushes on the enemies. Near the town is a Druid grove that is an ancient place of power. The druid grove has been taken over and is in the process of being corrupted and turned to the outsider's purposes by enemy Warlocks. The Warlocks are using a ritual involving black pearl powder as their catalyst. However, they've run out of powder because the grove was stronger than they anticipated and are unable to finish the job. The grove is on the brink of collapse, but the Warlocks can't turn it completely without more powder. Should the Warlocks succeed, they will use the power of the grove to swing the tide of the war in their favor. It would be a crushing blow. So, what the Warlocks have done is sent two messengers to the outsider armies in the east requesting a supply of powder to be sent at once. The party has intercepted one of the messengers and discovered all of this information. The party is also too weak to take on the Warlocks directly. Hopefully that's enough info to bring you up to date. So, here is the question: [B]As DM, to what extent do I lead them to a way to stop this powder from coming from the east?[/B] On one hand, I think...hey, let the party use it's collective brain and figure out some possibilities on their own, then work with what they come up with. On the other hand, I have them asking for more DM direction. I'm not sure how to proceed. Thoughts? [/QUOTE]

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