Weekly Tip/Trick for Friday, October 26th, 2012
- Create a Unique & Captivating Story Dynamic Using Proper Planning – Developing a story that is both unique and that will keep players interested can be a daunting task at times. With work, family, and our social lives outside of roleplaying, finding time to do this can be a big reason (in my opinion) why some games can lose their luster. Typically, when someone decides to run a game, it’s because they’ve finally found some time to put the leg work required to do so. Then their schedule may start to fill up again and less and less time may be spent on keeping the sessions fresh and invigorating. This brings me to my point, if you do most of the planning/writing at the beginning (when you have the time) this can be avoided. Here are some tips I use for creating stories that will both capture your players and save you on time:
- Before you even start writing anything down, figure out how long you want your game to last before you take a break. In my experience, six to eight sessions seem to work best for me. Asking the group how long they want to play works as well. This will give you a base line. Once this is done, write down what you want to happen in your campaign. If you know what you want to happen at the end and know how many weeks you have to accomplish this, then filling in everything else in between becomes a whole lot easier.
- Next, you will need to determine the setting. Will this campaign take place in the winter, the desert, or perhaps in the open seas? What state is the world in? What races are outcast or hated, if any? Everything you woul ddescribe in an introduction of your world. You may even run this by your players before they begin making their characters. This will allow the players to equip their characters accordingly. (snow/desert gear, gear for their vessel, etc.)
- The next step is the most important. Figuring out your story dynamic, plot points, and who the important NPC’s (non-playable characters) and bad guys are. One example could be they are chasing after a thug who actually turns out to be the father of one of the players? How will they gradually figure this out? Perhaps he leaves clues or the players run into him early and now they are trying to figure out how to stop him. They could find out he has been turned into a powerful vampire, or werewolf. Then you are going to have to find ways for them to find out this information. Perhaps, he isn’t even the real threat, you could be using him as a distraction or perhaps he’s being controlled by a demon. The possibilities are endless. Don’t try to plan out every single thing the group will do, this will take forever. At this point all you need are objectives, and how you plan on presenting them to the group. Using the example above, you could write up a description for the main enemy and anytime the players start looking for clues in the right places, you can then give them a little of the information bit by bit. This is of course only one small example, be creative and make sure you know how each NPC falls into your story.
- After you determine your important NPC’s, plot points, etc. Be sure to create character sheets or stat blocks for them.
- Once all the above is complete, you can determine what level characters players should be at in order to get the most out of the game. If you want them to face a colossal green dragon by the end, starting at level 1 is probably not a good idea. You can either lower the difficultly of the dragon or increase the level of the players. Just remember the higher the characters level the more they can do (obviously), this could create more work for you. This is part of the fun though.
- Fill in any loose ends. You’re not going to be able to predict everything players are going to do. In fact, you don’t want to. Players will throw you through a loop from time to time, but that’s a good thing. If you have a good story dynamic, the group should have a common goal that keeps them somewhat on track though. You also don’t have to write up every session before you even start the first one. Personally, I set up goals I want the group to accomplish throughout my campaign, but if they go another way, I just adjust before each session. The idea is not to force them to follow your story, but to find ways for them to want to follow your story.
- Find ways to keep the group goal oriented. Give the group a purpose. Using the above example of chasing after the thug, why are they chasing after him? What keeps them wanting to catch him? Why does the group travel together?
- Add your own flavor to the mix. Don’t be afraid to try something new. Maybe have a combat without using the battle grid, have a chart for magical items, etc. For example, in one of my campaigns I have an area of the map with a dark cloud over it that can create completely random encounters if they travel within the area it covers. I always tell them, they’ve been warned…
These are of course only a few points and a lot of story creation comes from experience and your own creativity. Just remember, you can’t go into a game thinking it’s going to be the greatest game the players have ever experienced, just like you wouldn’t walk into an interview thinking you already have the job. Having said this, it’s also not your job to impress every person in the group. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback and learn from mistakes. Keep an eye out for things you like that other DM’s have done and keep away from things you didn’t like. With time, you will be on your way to running fun, successful, and enthralling campaigns that will be talked about for years!
Well, that’s it! I hope you enjoyed my top 10 tips and more importantly, I hope they were able to help. I realize I didn’t cover everything, but these are points that are most important to me. I would love to hear what others feel to be the most important guidelines to follow as a DM. Please feel free to give me feedback if this helped you (or didn’t) in any way. If anyone else has any tips or tricks they would like to share please visit the curriculum page to submit it. As always, all comments and/or suggestions are welcome.
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