The General Discussion Thread

Originally posted by socool8520
I've never played. Does someone actually write the events out beforehand or is it improvised?

The DM (Dungeon Master/Game Master) generally has an adventure set out ahead of time, it could be an adventure module (ones you can buy), a detailed adventure he/she created or a rough idea of an adventure he/she created. The last method isn't recommended, as those tend to lack depth and detail and turn out to be little more than hack-n-slash adventures, but a good DM can make it work.

Originally posted by Robtard
The DM (Dungeon Master/Game Master) generally has an adventure set out ahead of time, it could be an adventure module (ones you can buy), a detailed adventure he/she created or a rough idea of an adventure he/she created. The last method isn't recommended, as those tend to lack depth and detail and turn out to be little more than hack-n-slash adventures, but a good DM can make it work.

My group seems pretty into it already so I'm hoping I can make it pretty good

Actually it was longer ago than that but I've been planning out my interpretation of Lost Mines of Phandelver too which I'm using as a starting campaign that'll lead into my own homebrew

Probs about a third of the way through playing Lost Mines so far so it shouldn't be too long until we reach the early stages of my own storyline

Originally posted by Scribble
I'm going for the second one for my next one, started writing it a few weeks ago and I've already got a world map with one continent properly mapped out with regions, terrain and politics

My group seems pretty into it already so I'm hoping I can make it pretty good

One thing I had the habit of unfortunately doing and I've seen it with other DMs when making your own adventure, making it heavily fighter/martial based. So the fighters, rangers, barbarians etc all shine and the other characters get regulated to hero-support.

Granted, fighting is a key part of the game, but be sure to include individual character-centric parts/plots. Like something only the thief/rogue can really do or do better than others to move the adventure forward. eg If you have a Cleric, send a legion of zombies towards the group, whereas the cleric can have a moment to shine, instead of just being the team's bandaid at the back of the line.

Originally posted by Robtard
One thing I had the habit of unfortunately doing and I've seen it with other DMs when making your own adventure, making it heavily fighter/martial based. So the fighters, rangers, barbarians etc all shine and the other characters get regulated to hero-support.

Granted, fighting is a key part of the game, but be sure to include individual character-centric parts/plots. Like something only the thief/rogue can really do or do better than others to move the adventure forward. eg If you have a Cleric, send a legion of zombies towards the group, whereas the cleric can have a moment to shine, instead of just being the team's bandaid at the back of the line.

Originally posted by Scribble
See I wish I could do more of that, but I'm playing with a very small party: two dedicated players and one who appears every now and then (who happens to be Stan/Tom). The two main players are a Fighter and a Paladin respectively, so I get to come up with some unholy creatures or similar things for him, but that's about it. Luckily, they're quite into the RP side so I can write scenarios that could be interesting to bring out the character's personalities further.

****ing Stan! I tell you that guy!

Anyhow, have them play 2; if not 3 characters each. Obviously not all fighter types.

They did some crazy shit last session, probably the best Chaotic Neutral playing I've seen yet. One player pretended to join a gang by intimidating them (with a very high roll too), made friends with the guy he intimidated, got to know him quite well, and then ruthlessly murdered him by kicking him off a bridge once they'd gotten into the secret hideout. Threw a massive spanner in my linearly-made plan, which was a really liberating feeling as a DM.

Originally posted by Robtard
****ing Stan! I tell you that guy!

Anyhow, have them play 2; if not 3 characters each. Obviously not all fighter types.

See, I considered that, but I want them to focus on the RP stuff, I think they'd rather that too. So what I'm thinking of is introducing NPCs for them to control, hired mercs or something like that, or more interesting variants on that theme. Write some interesting adventurers to join us temporarily for different parts of the game.

Originally posted by Scribble
They did some crazy shit last session, probably the best Chaotic Neutral playing I've seen yet. One player pretended to join a gang by intimidating them (with a very high roll too), made friends with the guy he intimidated, got to know him quite well, and then ruthlessly murdered him by kicking him off a bridge once they'd gotten into the secret hideout. Threw a massive spanner in my linearly-made plan, which was a really liberating feeling as a DM.

Originally posted by Scribble
He's a crazy guy with many plans, catching him on the right day be tough but he's a really good player when he's there.

See, I considered that, but I want them to focus on the RP stuff, I think they'd rather that too. So what I'm thinking of is introducing NPCs for them to control, hired mercs or something like that, or more interesting variants on that theme. Write some interesting adventurers to join us temporarily for different parts of the game.

That's an idea, or you could as a DM control the NPCs that are working/hired hands for the players, or a combo of both to mix thigns up. You just have to be impartial and play the NPC as they'd have no knowledge of future events

Oh yeah I have a DMPC in this adventure, I was going to make him really neutral but the other players wanted him to be more involved, so I'm going the route you said. Rolling a lot to decide what stuff he'd know and whatnot so that I'm not influencing the outcome myself too much

Originally posted by Scribble
Oh yeah I have a DMPC in this adventure, I was going to make him really neutral but the other players wanted him to be more involved, so I'm going the route you said. Rolling a lot to decide what stuff he'd know and whatnot so that I'm not influencing the outcome myself too much

You should make his backstory that he's a compulsive liar and a total self-serving dick.

Originally posted by Robtard
You should make his backstory that he's a compulsive liar and a total self-serving dick.

the nerd in this thread is cranked up to 11.

I kind of want one

Originally posted by Bashar Teg

I just told my boss to shut the f’ck up

Originally posted by Bashar Teg
the nerd in this thread is cranked up to 11.

You sound jealous

Now I’m going home

Remember if you ever do a Star Wars D&D make it all jedi or no jedi.