Y'know what's hard? Planning out how the party gets on to the next leg of a game. Oh sure, if I were running a PURE sandbox or a PURE railroad kind of game, it'd be easy. On one extreme I'd tell the players "decide where you go next" and they would, and hijinx and shenanigans would ensue. At the other end each adventure would plow into the next and no divergence would occur, so I'd just say "here's where you're going next" and the players would comply.
But I'm dumb. I like collaborations and happy mediums.
So my game (like many I'd suppose) falls between these two extremes. As a result I need to generate a logical bridge from the last adventure to the next. I also need to create a few potential hooks for the players to go after, making sure that there is a reasonable plot transition from one step to the next. That's really hard.
I thought (since they're still all 1st level) I'd run them through one of the PFS first steps modules, modified to my homebrew. They're going to go to a party, meet some influential NPCs, and get told of this recently uncovered dungeon. The NPCs want them to Delve Dungeons Deep and recover some things there.
But then I thought - how do I just say there's been a tremor that's uncovered the dungeon? So since the party's home city is on the verge of some higher hills and mountains, I'll have the tremor be felt in the city. I'll also give them a rockslide that hits the slums which are built up against sheer strata. This gives the party the chance to get noticed by the influential NPCs, get the invite to the gala, and thus get them to the dungeon. That's taken DAYS to piece together and it's only ONE possible hook. I'll have to have others at the same party, so the PCs don't feel railroaded.
Does anyone else feel my pain, or am I just dumb?
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At the end of every session I ask the players what they want to do the following session, then if I prepare, I prepare with that in mind.
Secondly, I don't do blind hooks that may or may not fall on their face based on the decisions of the players, I ask them for the hooks. Usually this looks something like-"Give me eight ideas (2 per player) that you find interesting." I then take those ideas and combine as many of them as possible into a single hook. This way I KNOW that the PC's will take the bait, because they said thats what they would bite onto.
Third, I start all of my prep with a few principles in mind:
1. Every session MUST have an epic setpiece, something powerful, memorable, dynamic, and open to unforeseen possiblities.
2. I don't plan solutions to problems. I just present problems and situations and allow the players to develope their own theories on how to solve the problem, and let the dice decide if it works or not. If one of the PC's theorizes that in order to kill the lich he has to find an ancient artifact created by his archnemesis...well hes probably right. Think of it like inception.
3. I start with the assumption that the players don't give a rats ass about whatever stories I write, they care about their own path through the world, not some otherwise irrelevant or only temporarily relevant (in the DM's mind) NPC, Villian, etc.
If you are planning on having a landslide, make that your epic setpiece. Don't have it hit the slums, have it roll through the middle of town with all the violence of a large avalanche. Think of a great action movie thats starts with a whimper instead of an explosion and you might understand my point. Follow it up with an immediate attack on the town by something related to whatever was buried in the dungeon on the cliffs for so many years.
In the first session of my campaigns, the first thing that comes out of my mouth is a description of the scene, the second is "roll initiative!"
Get down to business and make it messy.
Dotting for a later read! Interesting discussion
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Have you read the Alexandrian's Node based scenario articles? I found this series of articles to be a great set of suggestions for structuring games. Here's a link to the first one.
Also I would just like to second absolutely everything that Detoxifier just said as being purely awesome.
Have you read the Alexandrian's Node based scenario articles? I found this series of articles to be a great set of suggestions for structuring games. Here's a link to the first one.
http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/misc/node-design/node-design.html
I have for sure, several of his articles actually. He occasionally hangs out on the Wizards of the Coast whats a DM to do? board and partakes in method based discussions (that board is nothing more than arguments about finding the one true way to play...enter at your own risk, everyone there is highly opinionated).
@ Green algae smoothie (y'know, detoxifier?): I get what you're saying about epic set piece. As for gathering hooks though, I have an issue there. I put an email out to my PCs and followed it up once already; in said emails I asked for their reaction to the last game, feedback for me as the GM, and anything they want to see/do in the next game. So far... crickets.
Now I have some hooks from the characters' backgrounds, but I've woven those into background things so I don't want to focus on them too much right now. In the absence of player input and other obvious hooks, I've decided to go blind. Essentially my plan for the next game is:
Then there's an earthquake, aftershocks, and finally an avalanche. I'll genuinely consider making this a major event through the whole town. I want it to work like the goblin attack at the beginning of a popular AP. This event is meant to showcase the party as true heroes of the common citizens of the city. Also the reason to get them to the slums is to illustrate the corruption of the city officials; when they get to this part of town they find access restricted by guards for no good reason.
Now you mention a dungeon denizen descending on the city. I actually hadn't planned that but that's not a bad idea. I don't want a convenient dungeon complex right next to the slums though; that seems a tad too Forgotten Realms for my taste. But I could definitely put in a handful of a single mindless monster that had been trapped in a nearby sealed quarry I'd established. Thank you for that idea.
Finally their help during the crisis gets noticed by powerful mid-level NPCs in the city. They hope to capitalize on some genuine heroes in their midst in order to help them strike blows against the corrupt secret syndicate of the city.
@ Kenner Toys: I have read that Alex article many times and I wholeheartedly embrace it. All of the above plot, when finally laid out, will likely show a couple key things that will happen regardless of the party's choices. I will weave these into the narrative of the game and basically play off their decisions. I have a fairly clear vision of their bad guys, obstacles and motivations. I'll essentially just rotate the game on these axes.
I think its actually lack of player feedback that makes this planning so difficult for me all the time. We take about a month in between games and recaps are needed because my players tend to forget where we are in the game. This means big gaps between games with little to no player feedback, resulting in me just inventing new hooks all the time so there's not much for the players to remember (leading to a disconnected bunch of adventures) or hammering on the one or two things they DO remember from game to game, but I end up beating dead horses a lot.
I don't really have a problem engaging my players, I suppose because I've played with most of them forever and I know what interests them. I also pay close attention to their likes and dislikes.
That leads me to be able to dangle carrots in front of them that I know will get them involved. I think the secret is to always be proactive about engaging them. If they are adequately engaged, you don't need to railroad them because they'll already want to react.
For instance, if I want to direct the players towards tracking down a previously unknown BBEG, I might plan ahead by inserting a very likeable NPC with some seemingly innocent detail that will eventually link him to the BBEG. Then after awhile, I might have the BBEG kill or hurt that likeable NPC. The detail is revealed, the connection is made, and voila! Instant desire for revenge.
You just have to think dynamically and look for little connections to exploit.
It's tough when you only game once a month or so to keep a group engaged.
If my players and their characters are between adventures and have no obvious next course of action, I tend to come up with a few hooks, but I don't detail them too much. Once they decide, which one grabs them the most then I start planning it out in detail (or I might have a few different modules I'm interested in running and I try to have hooks for them). I find three is a nice number for this kind of thing. It gives them choice without overwhelming them (or me).
I've done the party thing too as a way to provide hooks, and it worked well. I had different NPCs at the party provide different hooks and rumours. The trick with this kind of thing is to draw it out so that they have a chance to make their choice, but can't really pursue it until the next session. For example, they might get involved with a bunch of fun RP stuff at the party (maybe conflict with other party guests, challenges, duels, chances to humiliate rivals, make alliances, romance ladies etc..). If they end up picking a course of action and there's actually time for them to act on it, then have a couple of "random" encounters ready to delay them. The obvious one being that on the road to the dungeon they are waylaid. That will buy you some time.
Here's an example. Say I wanted to run a sort of Keep on the Borderlands style adventure, but I don't have time to prep all the possible locations they might visit in full. I'll come up with some ideas for interesting places I might develop (say three- an abandoned dwarven stronghold, a fallen monastery, and rumours of a cult of demon worshippers lairing in a nearby swamp). I come up with some rumours about them they will have a chance to gather over the course of he session. To kill some time, I have them attacked on the way to the keep. When they arrive they can start visiting the establishments and start gathering the rumours I've come up with. Ideally, they make their decision right before the end of the session. If they decide early I can always hit them with another "random" encounter on the way to the dungeon.
If they're not responding when you ask them what sort of adventures they want to see, then they are likely pretty easy going and just happy to hang out and roll some dice for an evening. My players are like that a lot. In their mind I'm doing them a big favour by taking the time to GM, so they are happy to play in whatever sort of adventure I want to run for them.
If a player takes the time to make a elaborate backstory for a character then I will try to work elements of it into the campaign at certain points, but I don't like basing a campaign or even an adventure all around a specific character because it completely falls apart if the player can't attend the session, and can fall apart if the PC dies. I don't want PCs to have plot protection, and I want to still be able to run a session if a player cancels at the last minute. That being said, I do occasionally make adventures specifically tied to PCs (especially when I run a homebrew campaign), but I have to know that the player is reliable for attendance and I don't give the PC any special treatment when it comes to survival.
For example, if one of my players is running a dwarf and wants to go to the abandoned dwarven stronghold to recover the lost Axe of Kings for his clan that's a nice hook, but it's not so nice when said player cancels at the last minute and will miss out on being there to get the axe.
@ Green algae smoothie (y'know, detoxifier?): I get what you're saying about epic set piece. As for gathering hooks though, I have an issue there. I put an email out to my PCs and followed it up once already; in said emails I asked for their reaction to the last game, feedback for me as the GM, and anything they want to see/do in the next game. So far... crickets.
Wrong questions. :-)
You asked:
reaction to game -- expect a "like" or silence
feedback -- expect silence or "something did not work"
desires -- expect vague descriptions or silence
What you should ask:
Which NPC was your favorite
Which NPC did you hate
What is your PC's most immediate goal, such as a particular magic item or dungeon delve or whatever
The difference? General vs. specific. When you ask a specific question, it can be easily answered with a quick response than does not need more time than that used to read the question.
For ideas, look up any of the "100 Adventure Hooks" type threads. Any system. There are lots of them out there. Heck, look up the "100 things I will never do as an Evil Overlord" and do them for the little bad guys.
/cevah
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One thing that I have found is that accidents can lead to great things. I once had the butler of a nobleman that the pcs needed to talk to act typically snooty to the party and accidentally created a memorable nemesis. Try taking note of how the players react in session which should show you thier preferences, but keep with an overall plot and feel that you like as your personal passion for the adventure is a major factor in whether the players will like the adventure.
@ PH: this is great stuff. You and I have very similar styles it appears.
@ Cevah: I never realized. I use this tactic in RL all the time. I have a daughter with ADHD; she can be so distracted that if you ask her "how was your day" she just shrugs, but if you say "What was your happiest moment at school today" she'll ramble on for 20 minutes. Since one of the guys in the group constantly jokes that he has adult-onset ADD, I can't believe I never saw this before. THANK YOU for your suggestion.
@ Pendothrax: I concur - accidents are a good thing. I had a bartender a couple campaigns ago who I could never remember the name of. I had it jotted down in my notes but heaven help me I never found it when I needed it. So I'd always say something close. One of my players noticed the discrepancy in an email and jokingly confronted me on it in game. I was running the bartender at the time... so I had him throw a drink in the PCs face and bolt out the back door. I decided on the spot he was a spy for the BBEG and thought he'd been discovered.
This led to a chase through town, some kobolds killing the guy at the end before he could reveal his true identity, and opened up a whole new facet of the game. Use accidents, and never let them see you sweat.
As for the planning itself, it's still a pain. Even if I'm just assembling hooks to flesh out later, I've got to figure out each one's basic premise, create at least a little detail for the hooks, then take clues to that detail and drop them organically into the game.
Let's take PH's example above. I've got: Dwarf Stronghold, Fallen Monastery, Demon Cult in Swamp. Now I need a basic premise for each
Dwarf Stronghold: it was taken out by a dragon and its infested w/kobolds
Fallen Monastery: random tragedy but it's backfilled with monsters; PCs need to retrieve a McGuffin
Demon Cult: kidnapping people to turn them into cultists, sacrifices
From here I've got to work out adding these to the conversation w/the PCs. This means I need a scene where they're talking with citizens of Ravenhurst or other NPCs. Now I have to arrange a meeting I know they'll want to attend.
Asking the right questions makes all the difference and Cevah nailed it on the head. Specific vs General.
I would also add that I flat out tell them that I am asking for hooks they find interesting.
As for the scene with the residents of Ravenhurst-it need not be a conversation if for some reason they are not interested in attending the meeting.
1. Maybe instead they simply intercept a missive detailing an upcoming assassination attempt-once they save said NPC he willing provides them with information, or they capture the assassin and he reluctantly gives up his motives-after some intense questioning of course.
2. Immediately before or after the avalanche the PC's stumble across two of the cities nobles dueling in the middle of the street over some unknown slight. Both sides shouting insults and accusations at the other. Should the PC's intervene the information needed is provided to them by a witness or family member.
The point is, infuse ACTION into the dialogue.
Also, thanks for your help on my other topic. The spark of inspiration you gave me there helped me greatly. I am always in search of novelty.
Mark, right now I feel like I've put my play group in an uncharacteristically railroaded scenario. I'm not sure how I could have avoided it with the story line we are pursuing. The party is quite literally in the role of trying to save the world and that meant searching for, fighting for and learning how to use a critical item that provided the only hope for defeating the apocalyptic threat they are facing. That means for the past five or six sessions they've pretty much had a single goal to strive for.
Once they complete that and actually do save the world, then I'll have to build that bridge to the next campaign. I've already started asking the group what they want to do, including whether they want to continue on with the same characters or if they want to create entirely new characters (or a mix of new and existing characters).
Usually when we finish a major campaign like mine, the GM takes a break an another GM will run a campaign, so I'll have plenty of time to work out the transition.
I do think the most important thing is to keep a dialog with your players and let them know that you value their input into future campaign goals/stories and make it clear you want to provide them with the opportunity to fulfill their own gaming goals.
So I've put another email out to the guys and gotten some more specific feedback. One liked the RP with the kobolds; he said he liked the idea that not every monster is immediately evil (a LN kobold helped them last game). He thought the fights were fair. Another player chimed in saying that the 2 fights we had last session were not fun; he'd like more manageable fights (the 2 last game just happened to roll out to a CR 3 and a CR 2 for an APL 1 team).
From this feedback I'm getting that I need to scale back the threat level, give the PCs a chance to feel more epic in their fights; maybe have several APL or APL -1 fights scattered through a session. Also keep the intelligent villains talking (a new thing for me) and change up alignments and motivations once in a while. So...
The second half of the game session is getting into the Slivers, saving folks there while trying to find a couple NPCs that are there. A final confrontation with some kind of intelligent vermin and the game wraps. Sound good?
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Awesome!
Of course make sure to showcase the havoc these creatures are causing and the panic the citizenry is experiencing to give the PC's the chance to really feel appreciated. After they rescue the town some of the NPC's (prominent shop owners) may reward them with small favors or otherwise just happily welcome them to their stores. Even small reputation awards can often mean a lot to PC's, I know my players like it when someone they have just met has heard of their exploits and extends a warm hand.
Good stuff on scaling back the difficulty of the encounters.
It sounds like a good general game plan. Let me know how it goes.
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It helps to have lots of game resources to plunder. Then tweak stuff and cobble things together.
Come up with scenes to draw them in. For instance, have them see some villagers grieving and going on about their missing loved ones (kidknapped by swamp cultists). A displaced monk from the monastery is giving a sermon under a tree and trying to collect money to fund the reclaiming of the monastery etc...
Make a list of rumors and randomly give each PC one or two via e-mail before play begins (if possible tie them to the PC). Some might be completely false or misleading, but keep them short, simple and enticing (e.g., a ruined dwarven stronghold that still has riches in its depths). They can gather additional or more up to date info when they get to town- this puts the owness on them to be proactive (e.g. they have heard that their is a ruined dwarf stronghold said to have an armory filled with dwarven magic weapons, but if they just go looking for the dwarf stronghold they miss out on the chance to learn about the kobolds etc..). Giving them rumours before play starts gives them a bunch of choices right away.
Heck you can even have the players make the list of rumours. Then you decide which ones are actually true.
@ PH: this is great stuff. You and I have very similar styles it appears.
@ Cevah: I never realized. I use this tactic in RL all the time. I have a daughter with ADHD; she can be so distracted that if you ask her "how was your day" she just shrugs, but if you say "What was your happiest moment at school today" she'll ramble on for 20 minutes. Since one of the guys in the group constantly jokes that he has adult-onset ADD, I can't believe I never saw this before. THANK YOU for your suggestion.
@ Pendothrax: I concur - accidents are a good thing. I had a bartender a couple campaigns ago who I could never remember the name of. I had it jotted down in my notes but heaven help me I never found it when I needed it. So I'd always say something close. One of my players noticed the discrepancy in an email and jokingly confronted me on it in game. I was running the bartender at the time... so I had him throw a drink in the PCs face and bolt out the back door. I decided on the spot he was a spy for the BBEG and thought he'd been discovered.
This led to a chase through town, some kobolds killing the guy at the end before he could reveal his true identity, and opened up a whole new facet of the game. Use accidents, and never let them see you sweat.
As for the planning itself, it's still a pain. Even if I'm just assembling hooks to flesh out later, I've got to figure out each one's basic premise, create at least a little detail for the hooks, then take clues to that detail and drop them organically into the game.
Let's take PH's example above. I've got: Dwarf Stronghold, Fallen Monastery, Demon Cult in Swamp. Now I need a basic premise for each
Dwarf Stronghold: it was taken out by a dragon and its infested w/kobolds
Fallen Monastery: random tragedy but it's backfilled with monsters; PCs need to retrieve a McGuffin
Demon Cult: kidnapping people to turn them into cultists, sacrifices
From here I've got to work out adding these to the conversation w/the PCs. This means I need a scene where...