| MoleMiner |
First off I would like to say that I have some but not a ton of experience at DMing.
I'm attempting to improve upon a world that I had one day of prep time to get a frame work going before the first session.
The World is set on a single large continent. It only has one Huge city in the center that is insanely huge. To the west is a massive dessert with its main attraction being a large pyramid. To the east is a Ocean with a small island chain with one island in particular being the "main" island. The North is a large mountain ridge with a large snowy Mountain being the main area. Lastly to the south is a Temperate forest that leads into a massive jungle.
I feel like I've made it too basic but at the same time feel like i could do so much.
My players aren't making it easy either. I have a over Confident monk who thinks he can do anything and tries to tell me whats happening (normally in his favor). A rouge who has never played before and has no idea what to do. And a druid who has no idea what her character can do and just keeps trying to cast "Mad Monkeys" at everything.
Any suggestions?
| Guardianlord |
What is your story arc? Why are the PC's there? Why are they together? Why do they care about your story?
Answering these should help us determine what would "Fit" inside this empty world (I'm thinking immediately: underground; post apocalypse; lost or buried cities; or sunken city adventure).
Create a brief history as to why the continent is so empty... monsters roam forcing populations to congregate? New continent with wild natives that force colonists into protective areas? Its the only place valuable resource X is found (So far)?
As for the players; talk to them, tell your monk they need to support the party (And give them a reason to do so), and that you are the GM you set the pacing, setting and tone, if he wants to work within your framework as overconfident; perfect that's roleplay. If they want to narrate, then they should GM and let you play instead. A talking stick or initiative token (no speaking out of turn, GM gets to take it when they need it) could help but feels like a final response not a first response to a disruptive player.
Giving the rogue a UMD buff wand that the monk might really want applied could help with their teamworking a little. And it could give the rogue some focus as a support melee.
Rogues are a tricky class, unchained Rogue class helps a lot I hope your player is using one. I find if players are new, to show rather than tell, have an NPC rogue maneuver, UMD, disable device, stealth and sneak attack, flank, tumble, and Skillmonkey problems away. Give them time, and opportunities to USE their variable abilities. Traps, locks, monsters that are immune to things (KNOW helps identify their weakness), stealth supporting terrain, etc.
Mad monkeys is awesome (And ruins potential loot!) Once players see a blinged out enemy have MOST of their valuables ravaged by them, they will likely open up to trying new spells. Druids are powerful, narrative changing and can do almost anything. Sounds like they like summoning, there are archetypes that sacrifice some aspects of Druid class in favour of others. These are less optimal than vanilla druid, but a lot more focused. Specializing as a druid can be very powerful, and by making one choice the obvious answer it lets them try the class piecemeal, one major ability at a time. Just be careful of making them a hammer, because then all their problems become nails.
| Mysterious Stranger |
When starting a campaign you don’t need to plan out everything. The best bet is to start out small and let it grow from there. Instead of starting with the world, start at a much smaller level and work up from there. Start out with a city and its surroundings and don’t worry about the rest of the world. Also don’t make the starting point too big or you don’t have any room to grow. As the campaign progresses you add details as needed.
The impression I get of your world is that it is like a video game. Travel north and you are in a land of eternal winter. Travel west and you are in a desert. East is the ocean. And south is the jungle. It is like each direction leads to a completely different world with little or no interaction. Too me this type of situation seems artificial and hard to believe. You basically have only five area’s to work with.
The rogue is considered to be the weakest class in the game. As Guardianlord pointed out the unchained rogue is a big improvement, but is still lacking in power compared to most other classes. Many people seem to think that because they don’t have to worry about spells it is a good choice for a beginner to play. In my experience this is the worst class for a beginner. Since the rogue is supposed to be a skill monkey it actually takes more system mastery to be effective. The skill stealth is a perfect example. To use stealthy you not only need to be familiar with the rules for stealth, but several other game mechanics. You also need to be familiar with the rules for bluff, cover, and perception. To use bluff you also need to be familiar with sense motive. The rogue’s lack of combat ability can also lead to frustration for a new player. Setting up a sneak attack does require quite a bit of system knowledge. Personally I try to steer new players away from rogues. A sorcerer or other spontaneous caster is actually easier for most beginners.
Druids are also another class that takes some system mastery. They not only have a lot of class abilities they are prepared divine casters. This means that if played right they can be very powerful, but they can also become severely underpowered if the wrong spells are memorized. This may be what is happening with the druid. A hunter may be a better choice for this player.
It sounds like the best way to deal with the monk is to carefully remind him that he is in control of his character, but you control the rest. You may also not be giving enough descriptions about what is happening and he may be simply trying to fill in the gap. If that is the case than all you need to do is to give more details about what is going on so that there is no unanswered questions about what is happening. This is often one of the more difficult things for new GM’s to master.
| Matthew Downie |
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The impression I get of your world is that it is like a video game. Travel north and you are in a land of eternal winter. Travel west and you are in a desert. East is the ocean. And south is the jungle.
That doesn't need to be a problem. A GM can build on these simple environments in a number of possible ways:
After the apocalypse, the hero who saved the world was able to recreate fragments of the world he knew, and this is all that's left.
Or: Rival gods each created their own land, hoping to draw in more worshippers from the city of humans.
Or: It's just geography. The land of winter is actually a pretty complicated place, like pre-colonial Canada, but all outsiders really know about it is that it's cold.
| the nerve-eater of Zur-en-Aarh |
The impression I get of your world is that it is like a video game. Travel north and you are in a land of eternal winter. Travel west and you are in a desert. East is the ocean. And south is the jungle. It is like each direction leads to a completely different world with little or no interaction. Too me this type of situation seems artificial and hard to believe. You basically have only five area’s to work with.
It would only take a slight reshuffle of what's at some of those compass points to get an accurate though incomplete very broad strokes description of the default setting for Exalted, which seems to have no problem generating complexity and appealing to a playerbase; OP might perhaps find having a look at that useful for ideas as to how to develop a similar sort of world.
| Chuck Mount |
The drastic differences in terrain isn't a problem. Just make sure, if they travel to these places, the terrain will gradually change over time. It's not important to elaborate now. For you (the GM) letting the players know exactly what you told us is fine. That's the basics of what they know. There's a desert out there with a massive pyramid. There's a huge snow-covered mountain to the north, etc...
Your records will be more detailed. Add in rolling hills, scrub lands, plains, marshes, etc on the way to these places. For now, though. Keep them in the starting location until they're a little higher level. Start with small adventures... maybe goblins are hunting a farmer's free-range sheep. Go from there. When you're ready, have something important be stolen and whisked away to the jungle... AFTER you develop the terrain. Add in where evil humanoids live, past wars, things ancient adventurers have done (or messed up so it needs fixing), things like that. Don;t do too much too fast. First, keep it local.
| Zordlon the White |
It's alright to have it unspecified places or have it be bland, just as long as you have a good background history or some reason that it's that way. Like it seems like a regular jungle, but in reality, it's a stronghold for a poisonous Dragon that cleared the jungle of all it's settlers!! Make the PC excited to be there!!