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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 8227221" data-attributes="member: 45197">Hiya!I'll try. <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=":)" />What it does is allow me to handle the "winging it" part of DM'ing (which is most of DM'ing if you think about it; choosing names, choosing if the little 12 year old bakers daughter has a cat or a dog or a duck as a pet, deciding if the inn is surrounded by lush grass, or sparse weeds, if the birds are singing, or if it's the sound of ravens, etc; all the "dressing", so to say). When I have a general idea of "The thieves guild is doing X, they have sent Y to do Z...who will return when Y has enough information to be useful", that lets me "wing" other things that MAY come up during play.For example, if a Player suddenly, in a spark of genius, just blurts out: "Wait. We're investigating the Thieves Guild's possible involvement. What if they actually ARE involved? Wouldn't they be, you know, trying to spy on us to see what we know or how close we're getting? Ok everyone...keep an eye out for someone following us!". Now, I know that there is a thief who is, indeed following them. So now I might have to assign a DC or roll one (usually my go to; start with a base, then make a roll and use that; say...DC 8 + 2d4; I get a 6, so DC 14). Every Player at the table says "Good idea. We are all going to keep looking over our shoulders more. Actually, I'm going to do a double-back; everyone keep heading to the docks, I'm going to head around here (points to map), then here and here (map again), then come back here (where they are right now on the map) and see if I can see anyone following us".Well now I have a thing to deal with! <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=":)" /> Because I know the thief is focused on the GROUP, not an individual; so there will be dice rolled to determine if the Thief notices the PC behind him, or vice a versa. Also, if the 'sneaky' PC manages to catch the Thief; I know what the thief was doing, how long, and why. Any Roleplaying won't be based on simply "rolling dice to beat a DC"; we can actually RP it all with very little dice rolling, and this feels MUCH more organic and believable than "Ok, roll a DC 16 Diplomacy".So the "play" events that unfold are based on something already happening (as they typically do in an RPG), but due to a note I know when, who, what, why and how (to some degree), and it is a visual reminder. Now, of course this is generally a normal thing a DM does when running an adventure; know what the bad guys are doing (this is normal, right?). But there are less "important" notes that can be had as well. For example, what if the PC's were NOT actually looking into the thieves guild? What if they were tracking down an evil cult of Cthulhu worshippers? Thieves Guild probably doesn't care...but they might THINK the PC's were looking into them. So, spying. Fast forward a half dozen or so game sessions. The Cultists are dead or captured and the PC's are hanging out at the inn, enjoying their victory. ... ... I can "wing it" and decide that the thief who was spying on them a few months ago, recognize them and approach them. "I know of your exploits, good Adventurers! I also know of your removal of those foul Cultists! Thank you, their, lets say, 'meddling', caused my employer quite the difficulty. [starts using Thieves Cant]. My uncle is particularly impressed, having several nieces and nephews who get up to no good every now and then. He was concerned they might fall in to the cult and it's desires, having seen soo much. As a loving uncle, he is glad to get back to normal, well, once all the corpses are flushed out of the system, to to say Can't have them rotting up the city, right? There may yet be cultists hiding in our midst. A small fortune could be had if someone didn't mind getting dirty doing corpse disposal. I'm certainly not up for it. At any rate, thank you for your help, may the Golden Eye of Horus be ever watchful. Until the next moon, fair-well, brave adventurers! {Thieves Cant translation: my guildmaster has a lot of underlings and we would like you to deal with some rivals and blame it on the cultists; we'll pay you a lot of gold, you have until the next full moon to decide}".Basically, those notes can lead to little tid bits of inspiration and story/plot's that can crop up after the 'main' adventure is over.^_^Paul L. Ming</blockquote>

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