So I started playing D&D about 4 months ago and am currently playing in two different groups. Several friends at work have heard me talking about my experiences (and how I have LOVED Pathfinder so far) and have expressed their own interest in playing, so I put together a little group of them to casually play every now and then that I am DMing. We have played once so far and it was pretty fun. I used an existing Pathfinder adventure with me adding little bits here and there based on their characters in the hopes of keeping all of them engaged. However, I am hoping to create an adventure specific to them to make it more engaging and to get them more invested in their characters.
Now, although I have a very small amount of D&D experience, I have played games (mainly RPGs and MMOs) for the past 15 years or so. I have felt lucky that I have been able to include little pieces from my overall gaming experience to (in my mind at least) enhance the experience for my players.
My main two questions to everyone are as follows:
-Does anyone have any advice to give on making a custom story for the specific PCs in my group?
-Does anyone have any general "I wish I had known/done this when I first started DMing" advice?
Thanks so much in advance everyone!
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Thee big thing that I'd advise is to not plan too much. Because no plot will survive contact with the players. Plan scenes that can be modular, and make sure that any encounters can be refluffed as needed.
Also, anything you come up with off the top of your head, make a note of it. It might come up. In fact, take notes of everything. It's something I still have trouble remembering to do, but it is very useful, and will allow you to turn something improvised off the top of your head into a potential plot-line.
My main two questions to everyone are as follows:
-Does anyone have any advice to give on making a custom story for the specific PCs in my group?
-Does anyone have any general "I wish I had known/done this when I first started DMing" advice?Thanks so much in advance everyone!
Yes. To answer the first.
I don't if any of the players have given you back stories to their characters but if they have it will prove to be your greatest tool as a DM in involving them into plot. It allows you to work with material they are familiar with and that they can get extra invested in.
In this matter, vagueness can be your best friend and you should be able to take liberties with characters and events from your player's back-stories that their character has no control over. Which is why I always advise people who are making character backgrounds not to be too specific with the fates of other characters who are a part of the actual character's back story, unless their character was personally there to witness these fates. This allows you to introduce/re-introduce characters who are important to the party and still throw in new information or twists.
For example:
Say a player says they learned their magic at a magic-school and left. You could have one of their old professors re-appear to give the party a quest based on magical research the professor was said to be dabbling in when the player-character was a mere student.
Or the orc warlord who destroyed the Paladin's hometown when he was a boy has re-emerged after a long disappearance into Demon mountain and now has great power from a pact he made there with evil spirits.
The player-char's sister shows up after being thought dead and turns out she's evil now.
etc. etc.
Other bits of advise:
-Know your players as people and pay attention to their play style. This will help to tailor the game to their humor in the future. Some people like to fight, others to role-play. Some subject matter you can get away with, and others not quite so much. Knowing how they play and what they think is cool, will allow you to adjust your game to suite those qualities.
-Keep notes. I know that sounds silly but at the end of the night a lot can be said and done and you don't want to forget a new line inquiry the party had or forget something they said or did.
-Keep track of their experience. No seriously, keep track of their experience points in the form of a chart or something. I do including what was given for RPing and what was given for encounters etc. Some players are bad with keeping track of experience and knowing how close they are to leveling up can also be very handy.
that's all I can thin of for now.
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The thing I wish I had known when I started DMing was the power of "yes".
When a player wants to do something, rather than say "no" instead try to find a way to say "yes, and...". It's empowering for the players and it helps you build a good story.
Don't be a roadblock for your players. Be an enabler!
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My personal reccomendations: check out broken zenith's blog.
http://zenithgames.blogspot.ca/2013/11/7-tips-for-new-gms.html
He's on the boards, and has several very interesting articles on GM-ing and other such concepts. Definitly useful stuff.
I also do away with experience points entirely. It's tedious bookkeeping, I tend to level with actions (just defeated a very challenging enemy? Everybody gains a level!). It helps to avoid party imbalance, which can be a game-killer.
I myself have just started to GM recently, and it has been quite fun. Good luck!
My suggestion for new GMs is: talk to your players. Unless you want to run a sandbox game, tell the players what the plot generally will be about. Dont spoil too much, but dont be afraid to tell them "the adventure is about robbing a dragon" if that is what it is about. Minor spoilers are okay, in fact, theyre pretty much mandatory to keep the party on track, especially as a new GM.
If you want to run a more sandboxy game, be prepared to improvise everything. I think sandbox is pretty hard when youre starting out but some people are really talented at it.
Adding on to Democratus, when you say yes, and.... find a way to tie it to a roll. Be clear, that something may be very difficult, but when you are open to things like this, you can get very cinematic events.
Which game would you rather play?
Player: "Can I jump from the balcony I'm on, to the Chandelier?"
GM: "No, it's too far"
or
Player: "Can I jump from the balcony I'm on, to the Chandelier?"
GM: "Sure, it'll be difficult, roll an acrobatics check for me to see if you are successful.
Player: "I *acrobaticize* at a 12"
GM: "You leap out, but your footing slips as you jump, You crash into the side of the chandelier, make a reflex save to see if you can grab on....you fail, take 1d6 falling damage, and you're prone next to the bad guy."
That's a Dirty and only slightly effective example. But it makes the scene much more cinematic, and the group will likely be telling the story of the time he attacked a chandelier and lost.
Mostly good advise, but I'd have to disagree with always saying yes to the players. That's a recipe for disaster in my experience.
As far as making a custom story, what are your players interested in? what kind of books do they read? What kind of games do they play? What shows do they watch? You can draw inspiration from all of these.
As a brand new DM, I made the mistake of having the super-awesome NPC in the world that really out shined the PCs. You can have powerful NPCs in the game, but its generally easier if they are not flashy and don't interact with the PCs often.
Also, while creating content for your campaign, you may fall into the trap of thinking there is one "right" way of solving certain problems. Or thinking that the players will obviously decide to do x because it is incredibly obvious.
What you as a GM think is obvious id predicated on everything else that you know about the campaign. The players do not have this information, and will often come up with completely different ways of looking at things than you expected. Don't try to force them to do it the way you thought they should, design the scenarios where there are many various ways of handling things.
Also, let your players know they you're new at this, and they should be understanding of any mistakes. You will make them. You will make many of them, it's just part of the business of GMing.
Lastly, I can strongly recommend the "keep notes" suggestion Justin Ricobaldi gave. People's memories are a fickle thing. If you have 1 or 2 weeks in-between your sessions, people will forget things. Keep copious notes and remind the players as needed.
@ Tormsskull:
I concede that point. You shouldn't always say yes. My stance (which I didn't dictate clearly) was more that, when you something should be possible, try and find a way to make it possible. Preferably with die rolls.
Oftentimes, in my experience, skills are underutilized. Try and find ways to incorporate them when improvising.
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From another game, a set of core principles I love:
•Draw maps, leave blanks
•Address the characters, not the players
•Embrace the fantastic
•Give every monster life
•Name every person
•Ask questions and use the answers
•Be a fan of the characters
•Think Dangerous
•Begin and end with the fiction
•Think off-screen, too
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Don't Prep Plots is a important idea, but, as usual, I'll disagree with it for new GMs. You have enough on your plate already that some railroading will probably be better. By guiding the players down a path (with an invisible hand), your be able to run better prepared stuff and have a better overall experience.
I think TOZ and I have disagreed here before though, so take it with a grain of salt.
+1`for a lot of things already said.
What really helped for my group, don't only keep notes yourself but have (one of) the players keep notes (they can rotate this if they like) It helps me get an inside of what they noticed and if they found your clues.
Also, try and find out what you find fun to do.
For a custom story...
Always prepare multiple adventures, just in case the players don't like one. No matter how big the carrot you dangle, sometimes they just won't go along with you.
Also, familiarize yourself with where the random treasure tables are. Plus, make some random encounter tables. You may find yourself needing them if the players decide to do something you didn't plan for.
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As an inexperienced GM, it is now OK to say: "This night after discussing things, you decide that the clues in the city are red herrings, and you decide to go to the castle."
Purists may disagree, but your players will forgive you.
I guess I'm a purist, because I disagree with telling the party they go somewhere. I find honesty is the best policy in this regard: "Hey guys, I was pretty certain you were going to head this one direction, but you didn't, so I'm not prepared for an adventure. Do you guys want to postpone until next session or do you want to go to the first place?"
Coupled with that, at the end of each session I always ask the players their intentions for the next session, unless it is incredibly obvious.
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Call me a pursit as well. Players who dont like railroads are not going to forgive you for railroading them. Know thy players. Seems the OP is on the right track by looking to tailor the adventure to the players.
To avoid the players missing the action dont plan the action until you have the players locked into a particular path.
I think the best way to avoid railroading is to come up with sever different npc's and factions and think about their general motivations, plans, tactics, personalities, etc. that way you don't rely on what your players do, you just play out the actions of npc's realistically, and add/adjust something's that the PC's cause
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Fair enough. However, I will raise the point that the answer to that question is pretty much a given. "Do you want to wander aimlessly around the city or go to the bad guy's castle and kick ass?"
;-)
Usually true. But giving them the option makes it more palatable. I just recently had a group leave an area after exploring about 1/9th of it. I had 9 sheets of the extra large graph paper all done (massive underground world.) The group really didn't like it because they had issues with it being dark, and not really being able to get a handle on it.
As such, I created a quick way for them to get out of there and back to the surface world that they were more comfortable with. That was about 35 hours of content creation down the drain. Sometimes it happens.
That reminds me of another tip though. Choice is incredibly important for players. Make sure they face choices, have to make decisions, and make sure that those decisions have some kind of an affect on the game world, good or bad.
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Call me a pursit as well. Players who dont like railroads are not going to forgive you for railroading them. Know thy players. Seems the OP is on the right track by looking to tailor the adventure to the players.
To avoid the players missing the action dont plan the action until you have the players locked into a particular path.
After more than 25 years of role playing, I have yet to see a group of players who did not forgive the old Blatant Railroading Trick.
The trick is to do it openly. People hate being manipulated, but admitting your own shortcomings (and that is what blatant railroading is) is a different matter entirely.
I like to believe the trick is to not railroad at all. That way everyone has a good time and no forgiving is needed. I do understand some folks dont mind the railroad. Some groups even require it. Forgive me for being so forward in my opionions.
Which reminds me:
Do not be afraid to shuffle events and places around. Players missed the cave by the coast? Well, now it is on the banks of the river they are travelling up instead
Now this I can fully support.
My main two questions to everyone are as follows:
-Does anyone have any advice to give on making a custom story for the specific PCs in my group?
-Does anyone have any general "I wish I had known/done this when I first started DMing" advice?Thanks so much in advance everyone!
To the general question, here's some bullet points to think about when planning a story for the PCs:
- what do my players want to see?
- why did they build THESE characters?
- what do the PCs do well and what do they do poorly?
I suppose it's all a matter of perception and expectation. You perceive the PCs and the players one way and they see themselves and the game world a different way; based on those perceptions you make certain expectations. Plotting stuff for your PCs is about flipping that mindset; either you should provide specific perception FOR your players by telling them what monsters are in the area, what the theme of the game is, the level of magic, civilization etc. or you learn what THEIR perception already is so that you can match their expectations.
TLDR: bottom line, have an open dialogue with your players.
To your second question, I wish I'd known:
- the value and art form of taking notes
- the awesome power of Active Listening and Flexibility
- how to make handouts
A lot of GMs upthread say "don't prep". As far as the details of the plot, I agree. But the general plot, the main points: KNOW them. Know who your villain(s) is/are. You don't need to know every goblin in the cave, but if you know that, by hook or by crook, the PCs are going to run afoul of a goblin witch then stat her out, give her a name, a personality, then PLAY that personality into her and the game.
Take notes: if you're not planning out every detail, then know the details you do ad lib after the fact. The one name, place, or McGuffin you DON'T remember will be the one your players want to hear more about.
Active Listening and Flexibility: these are things I had to learn in my professional life and then bring to the game. Active Listening is a customer service skill that means you hear your customer and understand their needs; don't just hear their words but empathize with the problem and try to understand their motivation. Then set clear and measurable expectations to solve the problem. Do that w/your players: hear them, UNDERSTAND them and value their input and motivations. Then try to create scenarios with clear goals and expectations to resolve their desires.
The Flexibility thing comes in where, as someone said upthread, just because you planned something here doesn't mean it can't occur somewhere else. If you want to have a zombie whose head detatches and becomes a beheaded when the thing first takes damage, then the beheaded grapples that foe while the zombie pummels them and before you get the zombie into the game the party goes back to town, who's to say when they get back on the road the day isn't so thick with fog that said zombie isn't right in front of them before they notice it? Learn to roll with your players' decisions.
Finally; handouts. This is why I say know your main points; if you KNOW what the important barmaid NPC looks like and KNOW that, barring something drastic she'll be around for at least 3 games, then have a mini, or a card or something to hand to the PCs so that they remember her. Make maps; doesn't matter if they're blobs on paper, they're YOUR blobs. Make them, color them, and put them in page protectors. When your players sit down at the table make a point to put the map out there and SHOW them the world they inhabit. If you're going to hook them into the next adventure with a scroll, get a heavy sheet of paper and soak some coffee into it; burn out some holes; get some words or symbols on it then tie it up with red ribbon. When the players get handed that instead of just being told "you find a scroll" that point will get remembered.
Again, all of the above is just too long to remember or read. If you take one thing away from this thread and us old grognards let it be this: have PASSION for your game. Prep or don't, it won't matter; do handouts or go completely Theater of the Mind - depends on the people at the table. But whatever you do, care about it. I don't mean this is your magnum opus and you're a great thespian; rather care about the process. Be present. Your fellow players are your friends and you're playing with them. You're not passively watching a game or having a casual beer and cruising chicks, you're doing something that, away from this gaming table you haven't done in person with people since you were a little kid. Remember what it was like to play make believe as a kid? Yeah, do that.
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Not railroading at all assumes either an amount of time to prepare or an ability to wing it that I, for one, simply do not possess.
Remember what the thread is about. You just advised a new gm against railroading at all. Welcome to the jungle! :-)
In a perfect world, railroading would not be necessary. The world is not perfect, so my advice to a new GM is:
Avoid railroading if you can, but do not be afraid do it if you think it is needed. And if you do it, do it blatantly.With more experience, this becomes much less of an issue.
Actually the OP asked what I wish I knew then that I know now. The answer is that railroading is very undesirable. Now some folks like it, there is no accounting for taste. However, the OP will need to find out how they like it. Welcome to the jungle indeed.
@ Pennywit: what happens when you get this in your somewhat sandboxy world where the PCs KNOW it's supposed to be kind of a sandbox:
GM (put's regional map down on table) so...what do you do
Players ...
GM Well... the tavern you're in has a lot of folks in it
Players ...
GM One of those people approaches you; a half-elven woman named Aldredhein. She says she was part of an adventuring crew that went to the dungeon near town, but only she returned. She's desperately seeking a crew to help her find and save as many of her former teammates.
Players ... we go with him, the elf. We go to the dungeon. What do we see?
Now, I might be simplifying the dialogue, but that is LITERALLY what happened at the start of my new game. It's a homebrew, but I wrote a couple pages about the region. At the start of the first session I summarized said info since my players had obviously not read it. I produced a map of the town and a regional map. I even started them with a couple of NPCs from a pre-campaign adventure I'd done to intro the town.
So, they knew the area sort of, knew a couple people in town by name, had a map and had characters. I asked them for actions, and they just stared at me.
My advice to the new GM: learn when to be reactive and when to be proactive. Use the railroad, but be ok with jumping the track. Don't wait for your players to chat in character and speculate on things so you can add their speculations to your game; you might wait forever. Instead, have a dialogue with your players up front and tell them what you want out of the game. In this conversation, learn what they want. Then, find a middle ground and push things along, making sure to be flexible to your players' reactions.
That's why I usually insist on a more robust character creation process. As GM I'm actually less concerned with where you put your feat(s), I want to know WHY your character has chosen a life a danger instead of working on a farm.
Players often don't mind heading toward a pre determined destination as long as they get to choose the path to get there.
If you decide to do time sensitive things always have 3-4 ways for them to bypass obstacles and be ready to say yes when someone comes up with something clever.
Most characters can handle death as long as its death for a reason.
Wow...I am floored by these amazing responses! I was away from the boards for about a week or so and when I came back to check on this I was treated with a ton of golden ideas! Thanks so much to everyone for responding.
I think my first attempt at a somewhat scripted adventure went well (I had plot points, but HOW they achieved the missions were entirely up to the players) and I did a lot of what I read here without even realizing they were good ideas (which I hope is a good sign).
For example, in a minor battle with some spiders, one of the rogues in the group asked if he could ride one of the spiders during his turn. I, like a few have mentioned, feel that skill checks are often underutilized, so I had him do a climb check to mount the spider (which he passed) and a ride check to stay on (which he failed). This is a small example of a simple thing during the adventure that I feel taught me A LOT. Although, really, nothing happened during that turn, the player got a ton of enjoyment about attempting this badass act.
Anyway, I will continue to dip my toe into the world of DMing as I also continue playing in the two campaigns I am in and will take this advice to heart.
Thanks again everyone!