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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Piratecat" data-source="post: 5080252" data-attributes="member: 2">Hmm. Thanks for the kind words, Tav, although I'm uneasy being the example. You had the advantage of seeing that adventure the third or fourth time I'd run it, after many of the bugs were worked out. I do find the topic of storytelling vs. old school play really interesting, though.If I had to sum up my own DMing style in one sentence, it would be "don't let the players get bored." That doesn't mean constant action, but I want them always thinking about something - roleplaying, or worried about what the NPCs are doing, or figuring out a mystery or a puzzle, or the like. To this end, I try to run a really cinematic style of game; I hope that if they remember the cool bits they'll forget the part where the action or the mechanics bog down a bit. I try to improve mechanics that bore people, and I keep my fingers crossed that if I get the players immersed in the world through throwaway detail, their own imagination will compensate for any details I forget to give.Thing is, this works equally well with old style dungeons too. I try to give the PCs a sense of urgency and purpose; I try to give them enough sensory detail that they're involved with the adventure. When they kick down the door, you want them to hear the wood splinter and smell the wall of odor coming off the troglodytes on the other side. Add hints that the monsters are involved with a larger scheme -- "Why does this troglodyte have a signet ring that could only belong to our princess?" And then only develop plots that the group bites at.Stuff like "mine cart vs. rappelling" is key in this regard. The players' choice has a big effect on what they see and hear as they enter, as well as what encounters take place and what the bad guys see and hear. The nice thing is that you as DM can stack the odds. Want them to take the mine cart because it's the far more cinematic approach? Make it worth their while - hint that it would deliver them into a more advantageous part of the mine, that it would be fast enough that they couldn't be easily ambushed, or what have you. They may still pick rappelling, but you can stack the cards in favor of what will end up being the most fun for your players.</blockquote>

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