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0 sats \ 8 replies \ @Murch 12 Dec 2023 \ on: Dungeons & Dragons or other TTRPGs gaming
I’m about to start another DnD5e campaign next week. I’ll be DMing DnD for the first time!
That is fun, are you running a module or creating an open world?
Could easily pull inspiration from different retro games to add to the gameplay.
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I’m creating my own world for this group, drawing heavily on some real world places and multiple other scenarios I’ve played in the last ~28 years. :)
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That is impressive, how many different groups or people have you been able to play with over all that time?
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Mh, I count at least a dozen groups with whom I have played for multiple sessions to years.
It appears I might be taking over the role of DM for my party soon. The former DM will have a newborn shortly. Any helpful tips to be on the other side of the divider?
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- Especially with DnD, it’s easy to fall into the trap of asking the players for a lot of rolls. Rolls are slow and disrupt the story telling. Only ask for a roll when the outcome of the roll changes the story, otherwise just narrate what happens.
- Take a look at what sort of skills the players have chosen on their characters and what they bring up in their background story. They usually hint at what they want the story to contain.
- Whenever I create an NPC, I usually write down a couple things that make them in some way memorable. An easy way of doing that is by thinking of at least two other people they relate to, or coming up with things that are going on in their own life. E.g. the blacksmith is friends with the hunter, the inn-keeper avoids the midwife since she gave him a bad remedy, the stonemason is the brother of the baker and very excited about his new nephew. I once DMed a Shadowrun game where the players crashed with a plane in the Caribbean and made it to a little island, an they ended up walking around talking to everyone in the town on the island for ~3h, because I had drawn a little graph of X knows Y, Y is the aunt of Z, etc. That did abruptly end, when a little old lady summoned some insect spirits, though… 😈
Generally, my preferred way of organizing the game is to drop the players into some sort of world where something is already going on, and there are at least two NPCs or factions pursuing an agenda that would eventually lead to some shift in the social landscape, but the players happen to stumble on some whiff of that and are either going to be affected by it, or in some other way invested, and in a good position to do something about it.
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Overall, you’ll have a lot of fun. :)
Oh, and don’t make too many assumptions at how exactly your players are going to solve some challenge. Often they’ll surprise you with an angle you didn’t consider. Don’t try to push them too hard to what you planned, it’s frustrating to the players, rather roll with their ideas when they make sense.
And if you have any puzzles in your game, leave enough hints, sometimes the players just staunchly walk past a hint that you felt was super obvious. In my experience, planning for three different ways of getting a piece of information or surmounting a challenge tends to ensure that they figure it out.
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