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Hello again, all.
In addition to rolling the barbarian/sorcerer my previous thread was asking about, I am also currently running the original Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords adventure paths (starting with Burnt Offerings). However, even after a short time running the campaign, I find myself faltering and drawing blanks with NPCs, personalities, and set-up in general. So, I have a few questions.
First, how do you determine what information the party gets? I have not given them any background on the "late unpleasantness" in the module, for instance, but am wondering if I should have.
Second, I could use some advice for saving a party from social suicide, courtesy of the "shopkeeper's daughter" encounter, which they failed, and a subsequent spin-off encounter to gather information for the shopkeeper, which they succeeded in making him happy, but angered the Scarnetti family in the process.
Finally, what are some methods that the more experienced GMs out there use to keep track of everything? In the one-shot campaign that I made up, it was a lot easier to keep track of everything, in part because I made all the characters and in part because it was a much smaller world in general. So, yea, tips for structuring the chaos would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance for help and constructive comments,
Trei
At lot if it I have found is Preparation. For some it comes naturally, others have to work at it (like me). I try thinking through the role-playing before the PC's encounter these characters. Often I try to make the more interesting NPC's my own with added flavor from me, it helps me to remember them. Part of the duty of a game-master is doing your homework. When you create you own module or campaign it is easier to remember the characters you have created, that is why making the NPC's your own that much more important. Curse of the Crimson Throne was a great AP to be able to add your own NPC's and flavor I know that Runelords is a little more set piece so you have to use and customize what you are given in many cases.
I have even gone so far as to make a summary list of NPC's and their main role or arc.
If you haven't already check this portion of the boards. It has many questions and discussions of the Runelords AP.
Terok's idea to make NPCs your own is a good one. Sandpoint is a nice small setting. You should be able to introduce NPCs at a controllable rate.
Regarding social suicide -- not everyone in town is a friend of the Scarnettis. Some people won't like them (powerful people always have enemies, or at least people they've annoyed) -- there's some instant friends for the party. A lot of people might not care. The Scarnetti's friends might be cold socially, but do they have the grit to try anything. And if the Scarnettis want to directly express their anger against the PCs, well, that's what PCs live for.
A couple ideas --
Foxglove's family has a long-simmering feud with the Scarnettis. (Helps set the hook for part 2 of the AP)
The Scarnettis cheese off the mayor or Sheriff. (As employers of the PCs they're probably the most important NPCs.)
The mayor and sheriff see getting the adventures out of town as a way to cool things off. (The AP takes them out of town anyway.)
Give them opportunities to make other friends. (The theater owner probably knows all the hoi polloi in town and could mediate for the PCs)
Give them other outlets to buy stuff - roving Varisian caravan or something.
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Alas I don't own Rise of the Runelords but I can give you some general advice.
The first thing is to read the excellent advice from Terok's reply as that pretty much sums it up.
I would add the three golden rules of GMing:
1) Never underestimate the intelligence of your players
2) Never underestimate the stupidity of your players
3) No scenario, no matter how well written, can ever anticipate completely what the players will do. So be prepared to make it up.
It's a fine line between railroading your players and subtly prodding them in the right direction. GMing a game is much like writing a story but one that you only have a modicum of contol over. Prod, cajole and hint to your players to try to move them in the right direction but be prepared for them to obsess about some irrelevent detail, miss the plot entirely or just refuse to engage with it.
If your players go off the reservation and basically do something that the plot was not expecting bear in mind the following
1) If it can be fixed then just go with it. Raymond Chandler used to say that whenever he didn't know what was going to happen when writing a book he used to have someone walk into the room with a gun. Let it run for a bit, let the players roleplay and then have an NPC turn up to set them straight or even better have the bad guys try to off the players. Use this encounter to subtly prod the players back to the right course.
2) If is is a bit of a major change don't be afraid to tell your players that they have done something unexpected. Take 10/15 minutes away from the group whilst they order pizza/show each other youtube videos/talk about the latest film/ whatever. Then use this time to work out what happens next. If you can end the session there then by all means do so, it gives you extra time to work out what happens next.
As to what information you should give the party, this depends on how much they engage with the plot and how much you feel would help them get though. If someone asks all the right questions then they should be rewarded with information. On the other hand if the players just ignore the plot then it should carry on without them. If the players are blindly making a hash of things and are not doing the research necessary then you can have a friendly NPC ask them what they are playing at.
When preparing to start a prewritten game I read through the plot once and then start asking myself questions about it. How do the players find out about x? Where exactly is the entrance to the second level of the dungeon? Why do the bandits attack immediately rather than try to extort money? Answering these questions to yourself allows you to understand the intent of the writer and how the game is supposed to go. When you understand this you can identify possible issues and more easily react to the unexpected.
As for NPC's most of the major ones will have a way to play them written into the adventure. For random NPC's just choose a mannerism, sarcastic? funny? weird? Scottish? just choose one and run with it. In my experience some of the longest running NPC's have started as random throwaway characters that the players latched onto because they liked them. If the players do that then you can always develop the NPC later into a more rounded character. The sarcastic kid that the players rescued from a fate worse than death? Turns out that his sarcasm is a defense mechanism as he's afraid of letting people get close. The big gruff hard drinking dwarf from the bar? Turns out he plays the flute and likes elven poetry- not that he'd tell anyone of course...
A real life example of this is Dean Martin. Martin's persona was as a suave drinking man who was attractive to women and a fun party animal for all the guys. Turns out that whilst you always saw him with a drink in his hand very few people ever actually saw him drink it. In actuality he was a quiet man who loved his kids and was not really much of a drinker or a party goer. In fact he used to call the police to his own parties so they would break it up and he could get a good night's sleep! He only perpetuated the heavy drinker persona because it sold his records and got people to come to his films.
If that was an NPC character you would play him as a party guy to begin with, only showing the more sober side if the PC's get to know him.
Of course not everyone has a hidden side. Sometimes a drunk party guy is just a drunk party guy. But you should strive to create interesting believeable characters and sometimes this can just evolve from one simple mannerism.
So in conclusion:
1) Preperation is key.
2) Be prepared to make it up anyway.
3) Expect the players to do strange things.
1. Spoilers! Sheesh, guys, if you're going to post spoiler info about an AP, you need to announce your spoilers and hide them appropriately, that way people who are actually players in the campaign won't accidentally stumble across secret DM stuff in this thread.
2. This should be moved to the appropriate forum (RotRL). Mainly because people who are in fact playing that campaign won't usually go browsing those posts.
I mention this because I am currenly a player in this campaign and the spoilers in here took me completely by surprise. No warnings. Not even a hint.
Un-cool.
1. Spoilers! Sheesh, guys, if you're going to post spoiler info about an AP, you need to announce your spoilers and hide them appropriately, that way people who are actually players in the campaign won't accidentally stumble across secret DM stuff in this thread.
2. This should be moved to the appropriate forum (RotRL). Mainly because people who are in fact playing that campaign won't usually go browsing those posts.
I mention this because I am currenly a player in this campaign and the spoilers in here took me completely by surprise. No warnings. Not even a hint.
Un-cool.
Sorry, man. I was in a "help without thinking" mode.
Although most of my post was conjecture and not AP as written. Believe it at your own risk.
Oh great and powerful Teter. Can you appropriately spoiler my offending post or delete it from the record?
I added a spoiler tag to the first post.