Running a Successful Campaign: Tips & Tricks for Week 3

Weekly Tip/Trick for Friday, September 7, 2012:   

3.  Think Ahead– This may sound like an obvious one, but keep in mind, players don’t know everything that you know.  Don’t expect players to figure out something just because the answer is simple or right in front of them.  You also can’t expect players to remember everything that happened two or three sessions ago.  Thinking ahead will save you a lot of headaches during the session.  Not everything is always going to go as planned, as I mentioned last week, so tying every loose end beforehand is vital to keeping a session flowing smoothly.  This may sound a lot like the contingency plan, but the contingency plan is used when you forgot to think ahead, make sense?  Let me explain, if you know a PC (playable character) has a tendency to run into situations without thinking, be prepared to play out all possible scenarios.  Don’t assume they will avoid the situation.  Always try to be prepared for anything, especially in cities or towns.  I can’t tell you how many times I made this mistake when I first started running games.  Let’s say the group comes into a town, finds out that an enemy NPC (Non Playable Character) is in the city, the group finds a clever way to get to him/her/them, then all hell breaks loose.  Have a plan for this, some players may do this just to test you as a new DM or catch you off guard.  When their bold move leads to a bad result for them that you had already accounted for, then you just showed them whose boss…Nice.  Here are some examples of how thinking ahead can save the session:

• Have a character stat block for your main NPC’s – Here is an embarrassing example of what happened to me in the very first game I ran.  The group (who had all been playing at least 5 or more years longer than I have) was very clever and found out how to track down the enemy who I thought was untouchable at their level.  Well, I was wrong, they managed to find and defeat one of my main NPC enemies and I was completely unprepared.  The contingency plan may have helped, but sometimes things just happen too fast or without warning.  The next thing I know, they are fighting him (they are all buffed up) and all I could do was sit there and watch.  Had I thought ahead, I would have had all his spells written down.  That’s right, I never prepared his spells!  I should have made him a sorcerer…lesson learned.  I could have prepared any number of spells on the door the enemy was in, but no, I didn’t think ahead.
• Don’t expect anything – If you are writing your session based on the group figuring out something by a certain time, then you are going to have to think ahead.  Things happen, don’t expect/assume players will figure out the situation based on the 20 clues you gave them throughout five sessions.  Chances are they will forget the first two by the fourth or fifth session.  Worst case, you have them roll an intelligence check to see if they remember, but that’s no fun.  Instead, think ahead about how to reintroduce these clues to the player.
• Don’t just make stuff up – This is a road you don’t want to go down as a new DM (dungeon master).  If you start making things up, you are now forcing yourself to remember things you didn’t have planned.  Don’t panics if something happens that is devastating to your campaign, you can plan around that next game.  If the PC’s kill a major boss, its ok.  Have him change into something thing else when he dies and make the group think he was an illusion or something.  If you pull it off well enough, the group will fear fighting the “real” thing, even though they just killed the real thing.  This will give you time to better prepare the NPC for the next future encounter.  Way to think ahead, give yourself a pat on the back.        

The one thing to always remember is that you do have “some” control over your characters actions.  A rogue will most likely always go after treasure, a fighter will most likely stand up for the group, the bard will charm his way out of a scam, etc.  If a character is good, he will most likely always help the damsel in distress, if a character is evil, they will most likely do what benefits them the most.  You can think ahead and use these to your advantage.  Test your group; see how they react to certain things.  If the group is all Elves, how do they act/feel toward elves, let’s find out.  If you try to stay at least one step ahead of your players, then your game will run especially smooth.  Let your group get the jump on you and catch you off guard, then you’re in for a rollercoaster ride.  There is one way to ensure this for every game, but you will have to wait until next week…

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