Hi! So I've been running Pathfinder games for about 6 months now. I've done several one or 2 session arcs as well as running my group through Rise of the Runelords. They loved it every time, but they have been asking for a few specific things and certain ideas that I couldn't find in published material. I thought I would help them out by creating a campaign myself, and I was super excited to start. I have the GM guide, NPC codex, and a few other source materials that I thought might come in handy. I've started outlining the story and creating the world, but it seems like an awful lot to do before I can get it playable.
I guess I just have no idea what to do with what I have so far. I'm not sure how to write an adventure on the scale that players will interact with it and I'm kinda stuck.
My biggest problem is that I'm not sure how to practically write an adventure or series of encounters for my players "boots on the ground" and any advice or outlines or resources would be overwhelmingly appreciated.
Thanks a ton!
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First, don't get caught up in the world too much. You don't really need all that much, and the player's aren't going to care what the deal is with the country on the other side of the world, unless they go there.
I'd suggest start building the world where the players are going to be, then balloon outwards from there.
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One thing to do is keep a generalized idea of what your world contains, then when the players ask for a specific detail, make it up on the spot and write it down.
I prefer making it on the way as well. Like an ongoing TV show. It makes things a lot more personal, has zero railroading, and the opportunity for sidequests.
I like having a couple good ideas about the world, and just sketching things out really. You just need to stay one or two sessions ahead of them.
Guide to guides has some good GM guides.
Thats actually really helpful, I think I've just been bogged down with the idea of trying to come up with and map out and populate dozens of cities and villages. Any tips on building encounters or adventures themselves?
Thats actually really helpful, I think I've just been bogged down with the idea of trying to come up with and map out and populate dozens of cities and villages. Any tips on building encounters or adventures themselves?
Just go with seems like a good story, and something that the players will appreciate. After all, that's what homebrews are for! I believe strongly the point is to make a fun and engaging story. Kind've like a soap opera.
One thing a lot of GM's have problem with is having one monster encounters. The action economy of the PC's is a huge advantage, so multiple weaker monsters make for more challenging fights.
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A lot of good advice here. My advice is start small—don't start out with a huge epic story, or a convoluted intrigue. Test yourself and your players. "Biting off more than you can chew" is one of the most common errors of newbie GMs, but it doesn't have to be. You'll do fine as long as you ease your way into things.
Also, if you want to share ideas for adventures to get feedback on, feel free!
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One big piece of advice I can offer is this.
If you want something to work a certain way and it goes against the general rules of pathfinder don't be afraid to play with it.
One of my favorite things I've experienced in dnd is that moment where the wizard of the party is like "I'm sorry but that does not work that way" and the dm responds with "yeah your right that should not work that way.... weird isn't it...."
I'll vouch for what everyone is generally saying, begin small with what your players will interact with directly. Then widen the scope as needed. Take stats for threats they'll encounter the most directly from the codex or the monster builder at d20pfsrd.com and make small flavor adjustments as needed; a ranged build or spellcasrer instead of melee for example. Don't think too far ahead in tight specifics. Keep things in broad strokes so you can react to your players' actions. Also a rule of thumb is, if you create something from scratch, try to come up with at least one background fact or one secret about it.
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Another is to empower your players to assist you with the world-building. I can't tell you how many little villages in my home brew campaign exist because I player came to me with a character and said, "I want my character to be from here..." and started rattling off a thought-out, detailed community.
"Yes, and..." can really be your friend, here.
Wow, thanks a ton! I have the basics set out, I know whats happening in the world in broad strokes. I know who the major players are and I have a couple of encounters ready to go. Should I keep trying to detail things out a bit more or would it be best to get the players together and jump in headfirst?
I say charge ahead and see how it feels. Then you can get a scope on what works best for you and your players.
Sounds great! I'll get everyone for character creation and game rundown and go for it! I'll probably post updates here or ask questions :p
Please do! Can't wait to hear how it goes!
Google "Campaign Mastery." It's a blog. Search for the series for beginners (and the overexperienced). It's a great resource for everything from world building to encounter design. You won't use everything you find there, but you'll find something useful.
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Any tips on building encounters or adventures themselves?
Don't overthink it. More specifically, don't overplan it.
Each session you'll need enough material for one session. Don't worry too much about having a big bad evil guy for ten levels down the road. Just write a situation that applies to tonight, and run that.
Example of how to do this...
What to tell the players:
"Some monster slinks in from the woods and makes off with one of the town's youngster every few nights. Nobody's seen more than a shadow, and the best witness was drunk at the time, but whatever it is, supposedly it walks upright!"
What you know:
Okay, behind the scenes, maybe there's a lycanthrope in town. Nobody knows because she's been keeping it a secret. She's absconding with the kids, but it happens she's actually just smuggling them to another village about ten miles away, and abandoning them. Why? Because she's got a grudge against the townfolk after <whatever> and just wants to demoralize everyone until the town fails.
What you prepare:
Prep up a end-of-session lycanthrope fight. Prep up some woods monsters. Prep up something to happen in town as a distraction... perhaps a local necromancer or other bad-guy who gets accused and discovered, and is a red herring. Now you've got four or five encounters. Good to go.
How to flow:
Decide what comes next... in vague terms. Where did the villain from tonight's session contract lycanthropy? Maybe... maybe she wasn't ever bitten. Maybe she was cursed by a witch/hag because <reason>. Once you decide that very simple "next step", at the end of the night, tease that when the lycanthrope fight is done. Maybe have a mysterious tattoo, or artifact. Or maybe a voice in the head of whoever kills the lycanthrope "you've destroyed my daughter, but I'll have my vengeance soon!" Or have the lycanthrope revert to human form, released from the curse and she fesses up as she dies. Shrug.
Point I'm making is... worry about tonight. Create a problem (lycanthrope), a situation (village with abductions), and some supporting encounters, as well as an exit (hag). Let the players figure out how to solve the problem and make sure the situation makes sense, so they can invent solutions. You don't need "the way to find out the solution"... just make sure the situation is rich enough that whatever the players do (if it's sensible), it can lead to success.
NEXT session, do the same thing only write your material around the hag, and decide THEN what comes after her.
This requires improvisation. You can learn that. You can learn to be comfortable reacting to the players and letting them guide things, while you simply link situation to situation to situation. The story becomes a cooperative telling.
DON'T try to write an adventure path where things are laid out from 1st to 17th (or whatever). An AP works because there's an understanding between GM and players "there is a fixed story, please play it and discover it, but please follow the hints and guidelines given towards the written end-game". Writing your own is - sort of - losing the best part of home-brew stories: spontaneity.
Good luck.
They want a more adaptive story, one where they feel like they make the decisions. So I'm trying to balance how to be prepared for big overarching events without railroading. They really want an environment that changes radically based on their actions.
Also, just out of curiosity, what's your setup behind the screen? What sorts of notes/charts/figures/markers do you like to have handy when you're leading a campaign?
Monte Cooke, for those of you who don't know, co-wrote D&D 3.0, as well as being a successful publisher and designer of other games. The best advice I ever read for creating a game world was "never create more than you need at the time". Sure, the players might ask about a neighboring country, so having a line of notes about it would be handy as the question could spark a quest into that nation. But don't worry about building a whole world at once. I used to do it that way and it's a lot of work, worry, and sometimes players never see more than a quarter of it, anyway.
I really recommend the Rules Reference Cards,* they can save you a lot of trouble and make sure you can always access the more confusing rules. I just love them, and similarly buff decks and condition cards can help people out.
*
Ok, help. My players are going to meet a wizard who has managed to discover a new type of magic: batteries. This wizard is more than a little eccentric and he loves riddles, so when they enter his complex to look for him, they will be faced with a riddle. The only problem is I can't think of anything that would work. He makes batteries with clay pots, metal wires, and certain liquids (similar to ancient batteries discovered in the middle east) and I need something that will guide the player to them as the answer, any ideas?
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Another is to empower your players to assist you with the world-building. I can't tell you how many little villages in my home brew campaign exist because I player came to me with a character and said, "I want my character to be from here..." and started rattling off a thought-out, detailed community.
Echoing off of this, one of my favorite techniques is to ask players to submit a backstory in advance, offering some leading questions like "where are you from", "what was your family situation like", "where were you taught", "what caused you to leave and take up the life of an adventurer", etc. then tell them not to worry about there being a city, village, swordfighting academy, magical college, or whatever they need available. There is one if they need for there to be one, and if I have a really good reason to change it to be a little different than they envisioned I'll talk to them about it.
You can get an amazing amount of worldbuilding done this way, even more so if your players are prone to improvisational extrapolation a la "given the climate, terrain, and the general proximity of the ocean, there ought to be a port town or fishing village somewhere around here"... "why yes, yes there is, have any of your characters been there before? Please tell me about it."
Thats what I like to do, it gives the players a reason to care about the world if they are an active part of it.
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They want a more adaptive story, one where they feel like they make the decisions. So I'm trying to balance how to be prepared for big overarching events without railroading. They really want an environment that changes radically based on their actions.
One trick for this is to have the big choices be at the end of a session - something as simple as asking them - "What are your characters' plans from here?" or "Where are you guys headed now?" - that way you have time to adapt the game to their choices. (Unless you're one of those GMs who can adapt on the fly - but I know that I can't.)