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<blockquote data-quote="Rothe" data-source="post: 3522624" data-attributes="member: 39813">I do some world building. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />&nbsp; That is, there is no area on the map I don't have some vague idea of the &quot;politics&quot; and adventurous locations in that area.&nbsp; The &quot;politics&quot; add a framework to any random encounter so if PCs slay members of faction X, it has an impact on the plans of faction X and how they are viewed by factions Y and Z for example.&nbsp; Nothing extensive, one line note on the factions.&nbsp; It also leads to further adventures now faction Y may like you and faction Z hate you.I also keep a little personal accounting of the politics in the wider world (and if the PCs affect them).&nbsp; For example if orc raids are up, more orc encounters, maybe the party interrupts an orc rading party returning home.&nbsp; Pirate activity up etc.&nbsp; I try to think ahead if I can hook any of these things into a module I have, or vice versa.I also always keep on hand 2-4 &quot;wilderness/dungeon&quot; type adventures and some city type adventures (mostly rumors from CSIO).&nbsp; So if players wish to explore say The Northern Forest, I have an idea of the creatures there and a stock set of ruins for the dungeony feel.&nbsp; I can always switch in the &quot;cave&quot; adventure which works well in the mountains.&nbsp; These are really little more than maps with creatures noted in rooms and surrounding area.&nbsp; From time to time I up the power level of the encounters as the characters progress, 5 orcs to 10; ogre to ogre magi etc.&nbsp; WotC has many short free adventures that I also keep around for this purpose.&nbsp; The biggest thing for me to note is encounters on the approach to the &quot;dungeon&quot; to add some versimilitude.I can't overemphasise the &quot;world building&quot; part. It's not geneolgies of kings to the days of yore, languages or that stuff.&nbsp; But who and what lives where and who and what are they fighting/eating.&nbsp; Players could wander a 1000 miles in any direction and the &quot;drama/life-and-death struggles&quot; of the locals can be a ready adventure.&nbsp; Maybe a better way to think of it is as a dungeon, one large one that spans the whole world.&nbsp;&nbsp; Instead of rooms you have regions and nations, instead of discrete monsters you have factions, peoples, politics and ecology.&nbsp; The politics and ecology is the reasoning/rational that helps you decide how the world responds to your players unforseen acts in way that seesm planned and not completely random.&nbsp; If you can always respond to the unforseen act, or unforseen act on top of unforseen act, there is no need to &quot;railroad&quot; to be prepared.Finally, always have a series of related adventures (just like the G1-3 idea too much) should the players wish to jump into such, which they have.&nbsp; I avoid the whole &quot;save the world&quot; thing or BBEG.&nbsp; Sure there may be one EG thas bigger and badder then the rest, but things are not structured around some climatic BBEG fight.&nbsp; YMMV of course.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Rothe, post: 3522624, member: 39813"] I do some world building. :) That is, there is no area on the map I don't have some vague idea of the "politics" and adventurous locations in that area. The "politics" add a framework to any random encounter so if PCs slay members of faction X, it has an impact on the plans of faction X and how they are viewed by factions Y and Z for example. Nothing extensive, one line note on the factions. It also leads to further adventures now faction Y may like you and faction Z hate you. I also keep a little personal accounting of the politics in the wider world (and if the PCs affect them). For example if orc raids are up, more orc encounters, maybe the party interrupts an orc rading party returning home. Pirate activity up etc. I try to think ahead if I can hook any of these things into a module I have, or vice versa. I also always keep on hand 2-4 "wilderness/dungeon" type adventures and some city type adventures (mostly rumors from CSIO). So if players wish to explore say The Northern Forest, I have an idea of the creatures there and a stock set of ruins for the dungeony feel. I can always switch in the "cave" adventure which works well in the mountains. These are really little more than maps with creatures noted in rooms and surrounding area. From time to time I up the power level of the encounters as the characters progress, 5 orcs to 10; ogre to ogre magi etc. WotC has many short free adventures that I also keep around for this purpose. The biggest thing for me to note is encounters on the approach to the "dungeon" to add some versimilitude. I can't overemphasise the "world building" part. It's not geneolgies of kings to the days of yore, languages or that stuff. But who and what lives where and who and what are they fighting/eating. Players could wander a 1000 miles in any direction and the "drama/life-and-death struggles" of the locals can be a ready adventure. Maybe a better way to think of it is as a dungeon, one large one that spans the whole world. Instead of rooms you have regions and nations, instead of discrete monsters you have factions, peoples, politics and ecology. The politics and ecology is the reasoning/rational that helps you decide how the world responds to your players unforseen acts in way that seesm planned and not completely random. If you can always respond to the unforseen act, or unforseen act on top of unforseen act, there is no need to "railroad" to be prepared. Finally, always have a series of related adventures (just like the G1-3 idea too much) should the players wish to jump into such, which they have. I avoid the whole "save the world" thing or BBEG. Sure there may be one EG thas bigger and badder then the rest, but things are not structured around some climatic BBEG fight. YMMV of course. [/QUOTE]

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