I'd like to mix things up from creating these adventures and kind of rail-roading my group down a certain path.
Is there any place I can get advice on making up adventures as the group advances? I have access to the Inner Sea World Guide, so a setting for us to start on isn't a problem.
I'd just like to know if any more experienced GM's could give me some pointers on how to let the players choose what kind of task they'd like to embark on, and then building the encounters and dungeons as they appear.
I've been wanting to pick up the GM guide at some point, I'll look into it.
The article's a really insightful read so far, thanks for sharing!
I would say you need to talk to your players. Before you set up your table find out what they want. If you get some direction from them, it gives you a framework to hang the rest on.
Do they want dark, gritty themes? Royal court politics? Urban horror? Sweeping epic, save-the-world type stuff? Voyages of discovery?
You get the idea. Once they point the direction, the rest just can flow out naturally. It all comes down to knowing your audience.
That thread really helps too, thanks!
As far as my audience goes, they're a silly lot. They like adventuring, witty jokes, and the occasional dark and gritty situation.
They're a hard group to predict, and letting them choose a direction is a scary and somewhat exciting thought.
Are there any useful automatic generators for encounters that I could use?
I've found one or two but they've never seemed completely fleshed out.
I have one for randomized treasure though, that'll cut out some prep time as well.
I've seen alot of 3pp stuff on rpgnow for cheap- premade tables that you can get for a couple of bucks or so ("1001 city encounters", or such). Most are system neutral so you'll need to put in the game stats, but they can save some time if you're stuck. And the afore mentioned Gamemastery Guide I think has tables for possible encounters, if I remember right.
I see.
I'll definitely set up a location for their adventure to start, and create the possible encounters from there.
Hopefully once I get some experience I'll be able to throw together fun encounters on the fly.
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That thread really helps too, thanks!
As far as my audience goes, they're a silly lot. They like adventuring, witty jokes, and the occasional dark and gritty situation.
They're a hard group to predict, and letting them choose a direction is a scary and somewhat exciting thought.Are there any useful automatic generators for encounters that I could use?
I've found one or two but they've never seemed completely fleshed out.
I have one for randomized treasure though, that'll cut out some prep time as well.
If you're doing a lighter game, sometimes just bringing in iconic characters from a completely different medium can give you a quick low-prep game with its own structure.
For instance, I ran one game where the characters were hired on as caravan guards for a dwarven caravan, where the captain of the guards had a booming voice and a magical warhammer. Later it comes out that the shipment they are guarding came from the nearby wonderflonium mines. At the point where the bandits attack, led by a wizard dressed in white and his assistant who keeps dropping his weapon, everyone knew where it was going, and I didn't have to worry about railroading them because now they were invested in finding out how the joke went.
Total prep time for the adventure: 5 minutes. And my players talk about it more than ones I spent weeks creating.
I built all of my games based around the classes and professions, and whatever really important details they give me.
Example: I ran a one-shot where we had an assassin, a thief, a mercenary, and nomad. The adventure hook was that the assassin was given a contract by his organization to assassinate an evil cult leader who was causing trouble for them (something the good-natured nomad could get behind), but it was more than a one-man job, so she had to look for partners. At that point, all I had to do was put the players in the same bar. They all WANT to play and go on an adventure, so they mesh.
When a player chooses a class, they want to do specific things. Rogues want to steal things and sneak around. Rangers want to go after specific types of enemies. Whenever they come up with a specific backstory detail (being an assassin, avenging his dead brother, etc) they want to play a game that involves that. So give it to them.
I try to find a balance between what every player wants and give each character a reason to travel together, and I see where it goes. I try to use monsters and statblocks from the books as much as possible so I can leaves things open and adapt more easily. For instance, say I give the players have a full day to gather information on their target. One might go to the tavern to try and gather info, and end up picking a fight with a guy that will only talk if the PC beats him in a duel, while another character might talk to the nearest temple to try and get some information. Rather than spending hours preping the loads of NPCs they might encounter or railroading them into a very narrow range of options, I'll just give them free rain and drop in the premade NPcs.
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Um... can you explain the joke for me pH unbalanced? I don't get it at all.
Look here. Of course, I knew my players were familiar with it, or it wouldn't have worked.