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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 425792" data-attributes="member: 1210">Re: Your storyHey, thanks for the praise!  It's always nice to have someone throw a few kind words out about my game, since I have been running dnd games since 1981, and they do ultimately all tie together (although my original campaign world got eaten by Tharizdun, my current world was created by one of the survivors... long story!)Anyway, I find that my best sessions are a mix of improvisation and prep work... If you can create a few encounters that can fit in to the session regardless of what the pcs do with just a slight change of the background it often seems like you've planned things a lot more than you actually have.  For example, if your party is 4th level you might create a group of low-level warriors led by a 4th-level rogue.  The party goes on the road?  The npcs are bandits.  The party stays in town?  The npcs are a street gang.  The party goes into a dungeon?  The npcs are bandits, and this is their lair.  And so forth.Winging it is a tricky skill to learn, but one thing that helps me is constantly flipping through the books looking for things that give me ideas (while I'm dming).  Another thing is to drop plot hooks like crazy, letting the pcs bite at the ones that interest them, and have the others in the back of your mind for later.  Keep in mind that even if the pcs don't do anything, the rest of the world is moving along.  Look to the real world for inspiration on this: while we ignored it, for instance, the genocides in Rwanda went on.  Another thing about winging it is that if you make up stuff as you go along, make sure that you take notes so that when the party goes back to the little mystery you hinted at five sessions back you can pick up where you left off.  Also, the more stuff you make up as you go along, the more threads you can refer back to later.  I like to give the pcs the freedom to do what they want within the context of the campaign world.  I rarely run "stories"- I mostly set up situations.  I can't tell you how many times I've had brilliant ideas that the pcs have totally ignored.  (There was a big intrigue and revolution oriented thing that the party touched on a few times but mostly ignored a while back.)  The key is that these situations advance regardless of whether the pcs dabble in them or not.  When the party throws you a curve, roll with it.  I never try to railroad them into doing what I want, though sometimes my npcs do, or sometimes they end up trapped somewhere they can't easily escape from and they have to work through it.  But generally, I let their tricky tactics work for them (unless the npc involved would logically have a counter); I let them run with their wacky ideas.  I find that, rather than trying to design adventures for them, I try to anticipate a few of the things they're likely to do and plan a little for them.I don't know if this is exactly what you're looking for, but I hope it helps a little!About the custom feats: I'm on the road right now, so I don't have easy access to them.  However, I'll email my love slave (she has my computer) and have her email them to me, then copy and paste the ones you want.  Er... which I'll have to check out our discussion on the thread that led you here to see about (? the one about the combat mastery or attack bonus feat, right?)Tallyho!</blockquote>

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