Verynt's page

Thanks for the awesome read. I have made those mistakes in games I have run. It's easy to fall for your own hype and drown your players in details they don't really care for. My first game was a disaster where the players were simply spectators. I created this massive story in a home brew world and it turned out to be a disaster. But the second game I ran was pretty successful, quite by accident.

1. I kept it simple. I didn't even know what my plot was until I got use to how the players played. I threw situations at them and then I finally came up with a simple plot, which the players pretty much found out immediately, and for eight months they battled and fought and explored their way to the conclusion. The plot? Find three pieces of an ancient artifact that does this and that. Do this before the Cyricists do. Done.

2. I gave the players ownership. The second game was not really about the players at first. It became about them by pure virtue of their involvement however. The BBEG sect were looking under their beds for them, and spreading rumors about them. They eventually became scared of them, so far as to come out of hiding to plead for their lives in exchange for information. Stories of their exploits were told about them to their faces on gather information checks by people that didn't know they were them, and much humor was had when the stories were less than accurate. Eventually they got a ship and crew (only the captain had a name and stats) and they made friends with numerous people that were flash in the pan NPCs at first, even of those who were enemies at first.... And this was all player driven. I didn't plan for it, I simply planned around it. The second part fell apart because I forgot that simple fact and it became about MY plot. I made the mistake of thinking that it was my terrific story telling that made my first part fun. I was wrong.

To me a game is easier to plan for, when you rely on your players to tell the story and establish the narrative and tone. Granted my players are pretty ace. *cough* Malignor *cough* You have to start somewhere sure, by throwing a planned adventure their way, but you got to watch them, listen to them, take notes when they talk about their characters, and then encourage planning and roleplay, especially offline... (We have a message board where they like to IC talk about the story and plan). They are a wealth of ideas waiting to be tapped. I know this now, and DMing is exciting again.