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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 3562672" data-attributes="member: 2067">Take this idea....run with it. <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    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />For me, depth is how many questions a character can ask before we hit "suspension of disbelief" critical mass. If you have viable and sensible answers for the questions the characters ask, your setting is as deep as it can ever really be. Any more depth isn't really depth, it's just detail.You can answer these questions before the session: think of what questions the PC's are likely to ask (where does magic come from?) and think of an answer to have ready (fairies). You an answer these questions durring the session: PC makes a wizard, you tell him "Magic comes from fairies. Your familiar is linked to the world of the fey, and thus they are how you access magic. If your familiar dies, you cannot cast spells until you attain a new one."You can answer these questions after the session: PC makes a wizard, you tell him "You don't know exactly where your power comes from, you just know how it works. If you have more curiosity, you may want to ask around." In between this week and next, you work out an explanation.Some reactions...I love making these organic. E.G.: All I know about the Dragon Shaman villain for this adventure is that he's hoarding wyrmlings for Dark Purposes. Until the PC's are able to discover more, I don't need to seed more...their question and my question are the same thing. When they ask the great Dragon Sage, perhaps he knows a bit of it, let's say he believes it's linked up to the planetary conjunction...So you leave a trail of breadcrumbs, always working just one step ahead of the PC's, until you get tired of it. This way, there's always more in the adventure than the PC's can explore, and these avenues work from big things to small: (Dark Purposes -> Planetary Conjuctions -> Opening of the Far Realm -> An eventual encounter with pseudonatural dragons, which has been presaged from this first encounter with a Dragon Shaman and his wyrmling-hoard). My closest analogy is a puzzle: I don't know what pieces this Dragon Shaman fits into until I find them. Neither do the players. But I'll find an idea knocking around in my head, or even an idea a player gives me, and find it fits nicely.This kind of thing is great for adding on-the-fly worldbuilding for me. If I mention in an off-hand detail that the walls are obsidian, I know that there was/is a lot of geological activity in the area: volcanoes, rifts in the earth, etc. Thus, I now have a location for the future: the Great Rift of Dolmurh, where Azer enslaved by the Red Dragons build great works out of obsidian.I didn't know it when they started along it's length, but by the time they camp for the night, I'll have jotted down the notes and seeded the future.This flows back into the previous point for me. Details are easy enough to generate that I can pepper my descriptions with them without worrying about if they're important until/if the PC's pick up on one. If a PC determines that the "purple deepmoss" on the walls is important, then it can feed into the Planetary Conjuction theory or not. Depends on if I've thought of a better idea. <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    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />If I've got my laptop, I'll use a random name generator (some of the best can choose from amongst different real-world and fantastic cultures). If caught unprepared, I'll just pull something out. "Let's see, the PC's are in elven lands, elves speak with a lot of breathy-sounding names, let's call this elven guard Allhueyu."I wouldn't call those encounters in the "13.3 encounters" sense, but the point on diversity and establishing the ordinary is key. Mention birds singing so that the lack of them is key. Mention what the rocks "ordinarily" look like, so that when you mention something else, it sets off keys in the PC's head. Mentioning once or twice establishes a good "average" and lets you play all sorts of tricks (usually, I do secret Perception checks when I think that a spy or the like is a likelihood, thus making sure that observant PC's don't have to rely on players mentioning that they watch the squirrels suspiciously). Realistic NPC's are a good component of depth. NPC's usually have family (and usually a lot of family, in the pseudo-medieval feel), community, history, nervous twitches, common appearances (all the farmers of the Dales wear a green sash representing their dedication to the Green Lady, a druid who blesses their fields), etc. Like with the details points, it's important to mention off-handed details, whether or not they become important later (how did that brewmaster get the scar?). I steer away from down time because I dislike PC's "sitting around." It detracts from the action and drive of my campaigns. I'm a fan of active characters and active villains, so I cut down on in-character down time whenever possible. But my campaign worlds only exist for single campaigns for the most part, so they don't need much in the way of chronology.This is especially important in my games because this is the only way I'll think about these things. If the PC's run right to the castle to kill the necromancer king, well, I'll follow them. And if the PC's float about outside of Dino Island, I'll follow them there.This is part of why I've more or less abandoned pre-preparation for my adventures. I let the players lead my nose, and make up stuff as they ask for it.Very key for my style -- the notes ARE my setting bible. My players know I don't really do prep work, but they seem to like it when they tell me what they want rather than me telling them what they want. <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    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />True enough. This also applies to DMing in general -- if your heart ain't in it, give the reigns to someone else for a while. And if no one wants to, do something else. D&D is never anything you have to do.</blockquote>

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