#dmming

[trailerparkranger]

I participate in The Hobby because I like it

I participate in The Hobby by choice

I have chosen The Hobby because I enjoy it

Please don't help me I wanted this

[itseasytoremember]

My best piece of writing advice for any aspiring DM is to not write every single story beat you want your party to get to, but instead write the bad ending if no one helps the situation.

I'll give you an example;

There's a kingdom run by dwarfs that is known across the land for making a specific kind of technology that a few military generals want to turn into a weapon, but the current king and his daughter are both peaceful rulers who do not want to start war. The generals are planning a coup, and the plan is to kill the ruling Monarch and his daughter who is betrothed to a neighboring party, and replace them with her much more pliable younger brother. This will start a civil war with the neighboring countries, destabilizing the global area and eventually creating a powerful militarized empire that will cause ruin and destruction.

Now I could write a story beat about meeting in a tavern and someone giving them party tickets and I could write another beat about them getting clothing and then I could write another beat about them going to the party and then I could write another beat about them stopping in assassin, but they might not do any of that, And I've wasted hours and hours of writing.

Instead, I'll write that the bad ending; the assassins will kill the princess at this party. The assassin won't be caught at the party, because of that they'll be able to get back to her betrothed's room and plant the murder weapon, and with that they will convince everyone that it was Uxoricide (had to look that word up).

Because I have the bad plan, any meddling/ investigation my players do will alter the trajectory, and can be related to the story. I know they're going to want to be at this party, so I'll focus on that, but I'll give multiple options of entry and make it so no matter what they choose to investigate, they'll get a different aspect of the plot.

This way the villains have these really concrete plans that the players are trying to uncover and thwart, rather than meandering around for a while, and you aren't planning 85 scenarios hoping your players will choose something. Make a map, put different revelations in different parts, and trust your players to find them

[strawbebehmod]

Just got this papercraft ttrpg terrain pack done. For any interested DM there are 37 pages of props and terrain objects for only about 5$. Check it out!

Strawbebehs TTRPG Terrain Pack: Volume 1 - Etsy

This Patterns & Blueprints item is sold by StrawbebehCrafts. Ships from United States. Listed on May 4, 2023

[novoki]

dnd and improv

a dm’s worst fear is the pcs taking the plot where you don’t want it to go, or where you haven’t planned it to go. the instinct to “railroad” (force players onto a certain path) is strong but one of the worst things you can do - dnd is about the players’ story and choices, and taking this away from them negates the fun of the game.

improv is scary, but it doesn’t have to be! because of this i decided to put together this short guide on how best to deal with improv in your games.

leave space in your plot

the easiest way to deal with something is, naturally, prevention. if you’re terrified of having to deal with improv in your game, make sure the plot you write has space for things to develop and change in your game. if you want to set your party off on a quest out of town but are worried they won’t take the bait, set up multiple pathways to this outcome - say you want the pcs to go out of town to catch some bandits: you could introduce an npc whose relative has been taken by the bandits, or a guardsman who is putting up wanted posters for the bandits, or even a girl who says her dog ran off right to where the bandits are camping. this way, if your party refuse to speak to that Very Important npc you still have other options to advance the plot.

in my very first campaign, i needed the party to go a guard’s house to start a quest. in order to push this but not railroad, i created two stems the pc could take: upon entering town, they would see two npcs they could wish to help out, each who would eventually lead them to that house. they weren’t very detailed, just barebones in case i needed to use them. if they didn’t approach either of the npcs, i had a planned encounter where the guard stepped into town and gave a big speech and explicitly called upon the party for help. this allowed the plot to still develop even when it wasn’t going according to plan.

take opportunities

when things don’t go the way you planned, take advantage of the new opportunities you are presented with. if your pcs are spending more time with a random npc than a plot-relevant npc, tie the random one into your story - maybe they are the next victim of x’s master plan, or they happen to know information that will help the party. if the party goes a different way than you want them to, move around events and adjust them according to setting - the preacher they were going to meet in the town square to give them a prophecy now turns into a drunkard in a tavern who tells the party all the gossip he hears.

in the campaign i’m playing right now, our party ended up killing an npc and setting fire to his hut. his companion, in her grief, set off lightning strikes that scorched our hometown and killed everyone in it. when talking to the dm, i found out she never planned for that npc to die - the scorching was planned, but she had originally wanted a band of humans to come and set fire to the town while we were at the npc’s hut. but, once we killed the guy, she saw an opportunity and took it: she followed the exact same plot, but adjusted details to tie it into our choices.

speed up plot where necessary

if you’re in a situation where you have nothing for the pcs to do, speeding up your plot is a good way to ensure your party is never bored and always have something to do. for example, if a player decides to search an npc’s house and you have nothing planned for that, pull a revelation/piece of information you planned to explain later down the line and use it here. you want to reward your players for taking initative and being active, so make sure their choices don’t result in nothing. if they have decided to eavesdrop on a conversation because they thought the npcs were suspicion, use this as an opportunity to advance the plot - perhaps down the line you were going to unveil one of those as a traitor: do it now! perhaps you were going to involve them in the plot in a few sessions: do it now! 

you will, of course, have to then rearrange your plot to account for these moved details, but it ensures you are not struggling to come out with a brand new thing for your players to do/experience. 

conclusions

tl;dr summary:

- plan multiple pathways so you have more than one way to lead the party into the plot

- take opportunities that arise from the player’s actions to introduce new elements to the plot

- reveal plot elements early if you are afraid of improv’d scenes getting too stale/boring

i hope this guide helped y’all!

[trailerparkranger]

BEHOLD(er)

This is my new Death Tyrant. I call him Grungus.

Ridiculously fun to paint this one. Definitely need to get my hands on every beholder type eventually.

bonus from the discord replies:

[trailerparkranger]

MY MONSTARIUM GROWS. BEHOLD—

LITTLE FUNGUS MEN

they don't have names yet, but I am open to suggestions

sorry I didn't take any progress pics, my internet went out and I kinda went ham painting four minis in one night

[trailerparkranger]

bought vecna: eve of ruin just so my players know that they're never safe

[trailerparkranger]

a little map draft from The New Tumbledown Rumble, a side campaign I've been running set in 2007 Faerûn.

I may not be good, but damn can I draw the shit outta some shapes

it has since been turned into a 3d model via TaleSpire, I might post shots of it sometime