D&D Adventurers UNITE!

[ryoloth]

So I was introduced to D&D a couple of years ago when I first met my best friend and have been an avid player ever since. about two weeks ago I was hanging out with said friend and we made a bet, who ever lost at a game of candy Texas hold'em had to DM a quick campaign for the other. Of course I lost for my luck is not the best in the world, and thought up a quick campaign, it was my first time DMing and I found that I love doing so dearly. My question to you guys is, what makes a good campaign for you personally, while I know what my friend enjoys and can effectively make him a good dungeon, I would like to get a general sense of different play styles people have before I go looking for a party.

[JakeZKAM]

Having varied events and not solely relying on stats but the players own ingenuity is a bonus. Also if you're running it with a few more people be prepared for some crazy shit to go down. In one group I was in, we had what we called the tower of tiny men. I was a gnome, sitting on a dwarfs shoulders, while being held up by a human monk in an attempt to prevent somthing small and fast from jumping over us in an alleyway. So yeah the best parts I've had in both combat and standard role playing stuff is when our team got to get creative to try and solve a problem, while facing many odd challenges in and of themselves.

P.S. Gestalt Classes kick ass and are fun as hell to make and play as.

[ryoloth]

I would agree, i love it when the players get creative, i was playing in a short dungeon that my friend was dming partied with his little sister (11 years old) i was tanking a dwarf and she was playing an elven druid, i would sit and take so much damage each round it would nearly kill me, she kept trying to heal me best she could, finally she was like "DUDE, you know what im burning this damn forest down! and lit everything on fire. burned all the monsters and she saved us. it was probably the most awesome experience i've had.

As of Gestalt Classes, i have never made one(due to the fact the two dm's ive had both banned them XP), while they seem awesome i would have to say that they seem very overpowered. though i guess if the dm were to adjust accordingly they would work quiet well.

[JakeZKAM]

We started out at a gestalt level 5 yet our DM managed to kill off our characters left and right ;) add in situations and obstacles that can't simply be overcome with stats alone (racial tension, abilities that basically act like stat walls, ect.) And throw in tougher monsters that require teamwork and synergy and bam. I thought I was the shit with my Angelkin Warrior/BlackBlade Magi yet I still managed to get my ass handed to me quite often :p

[ryoloth]

haha, its one thing for a dm to kill you off (personally i have taken to keeping a d12 named the dodecalicisous that has different effects for each number, for those special occasions when a player thinks he can play god ooc{also brownie points for anyone who can tell me what that is from ;) }) but it would work quiet well if it was done right, as you have pointed out.

[JakeZKAM]

Oh she had many worse punishments for those who tried to play God (or leave the table without asking). One guy was hypnotized and made to self castrate himself yet still live on with the affliction ;). I learned what my fate would be if I dicked around, having my feathers plucked out one by one >.>

[ryoloth]

One guy was hypnotized and made to self castrate himself yet still live on with the affliction ;)

oh good god O.o i couldnt be that cruel, i prefer a more direct punishment, so far the only time i've had to use the dodecalicious the effect was "you spontaneously burst into purple flames" he put himself out by jumping into the ocean he was next to (took damage from the salt water of course XP) and lost permanently 5 charisma due to scars.

[JakeZKAM]

Hehehehe nice, "Rocks fall everyone dies." is a good one too ;)

[ryoloth]

not the biggest fan of that one... though it could be partly because im always effected by that even though i do nothing D: xD

[DaveYanakov]

"A beholder suddenly appears before you" is a good way to get the same effect with a slightly lower 'screw you guys' rating

[Shengji]

Here's some tips I have picked up:

1) Be flexible - part of your job as a DM is to make the game fun for everyone and in that respect you need to put yourself last. If the players do something which bypasses a part of your adventure which you spent a lot of time and effort on, let them - save your awesome stuff and try to use it later or in a different adventure.

2) Think quickly - Related to above, you will never be able to predict your players and don't try! Encourage them to think out loud and reward them by helping make their train of thought react in the world - For example, the barbarian player has just stumbled across the orc village. You had planned that they sneak around but the player muses that he wonders if they share any culture that will allow him to communicate and negotiate passage through. Don't shut him down and force the sneak, allow the players to try to speak to the orcs - you know how they will relate to the plot so keep that knowledge in mind and make sure the orc response in context.

3) Don't let any player dominate proceedings

4) Rough up background fluff for everything! Even if the orc village earlier was nothing but a simple obstacle that is never encountered again, fill out some basic details and have enough knowledge in the world you are using/have created to be able to make it up on the fly

5) Keep tonnes of notes about everything the players do and encounter. Write down their assumptions and their knowledge. Keep your notes very well organised!

6) Try not to punish players and if you do, punish them creatively and in ways which lead to further adventures.

7) Be wary of your adventure turning into a slugfest, every encounter involving combat gets old quickly and encourages players to develop their characters into 1 dimensional killing machines.

8) Related to above, try to develop a flow to each session - give it a beginning, a middle and an end. Start explosively with a major plot point that will grab the players interest, give them some space and time to get into the session without too many high stakes, build tension and aim towards a mini finale at the end of the session

9) Encourage the characters to develop their relationships with each other. At a minimum they should know why they are together and how they feel about each other - dark heresy has some good inter-party relationship stuff built right into the mechanics, it's easy to lift into other systems! Let players fall in love with their characters too.

10) Award xp at the end, let players level up in their own time and don't be too generous with it - a couple of hundred per session is plenty, players shouldn't be levelling up after every session - and award xp to the party to split equally rather than individually, otherwise you will always get people feeling like they have been treated unfairly.

Hope these help!

Urgh - completely misread your post, thought you were DM'ing for the first time and wanted some tips! Well, someone may find these useful!

[ryoloth]

Those are really helpful tips Shengji, thanks :) while its only my 3rd time dming this weekend, and I have most of the basics down(thank god my group is patient xP), these tips will really help me and im sure others as well.

[HavokSCOUT]

In the 5 IRL year campaign that I'm in, our party is mostly dwarves with an elf and a human. I'm in a dungeon, chasing after a human guard, and he runs right into the barracks, where ~20 guards are there doing guard-like things. I make the reflex save to stop and hide before they notice me, and I get the rest of the party into position. The bard and the rogue each shoot out the candles in the room, and the dwarves go in with darkvision. We took no damage, and annihilated the guards. I've always loved being able to apply spells and mechanics in weird ways, like having the rogue feint an opponent to get a sneak attack at will. One DM tip that I have is that if the story is good, players will forgive most anything.

[heypaint]

I started playing D&D back with the original books (yeah, I'm kinda old) and never really adopted all the updates and have had a blast with it. But recently I got turned on to "Dungeon World." It is absolutely awesome. It's D&D without all the tables and confusion, much more role-playing, it's a different philosophy but it works. Even if you don't adopt it fully, check out their forums http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?board=19.0. Lots of great ideas.

[abzu93]

I started playing D&D back with the original books (yeah, I'm kinda old) and never really adopted all the updates and have had a blast with it.

Same here. I still have my books on hand just in case a spontaneous game shows up. Given that's it's been about 35 years, I'm beginning to doubt that will ever happen. But you never know!

[ryoloth]

The bard and the rogue each shoot out the candles in the room, and the dwarves go in with darkvision. We took no damage, and annihilated the guards. I've always loved being able to apply spells and mechanics in weird ways, like having the rogue feint an opponent to get a sneak attack at will.

I think that is just awesome, I will definitely be encouraging my players to be as creative as possible, just to see what they can come up with :)

One DM tip that I have is that if the story is good, players will forgive most anything.

I have begun to realize this with the few quick dungeons that I have put together, it has made me really stop and think about every little aspect of a large campaign I'm writing. from the network of caravans that the kingdom uses down to from what forest the lumber that is keeping the mines from caving in is from, I've noticed the more immersed into the world they feel, the less metagaming goes on. :)

Even if you don't adopt it fully, check out their forums http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?board=19.0. Lots of great ideas.

Thanks for this, it has some really good advice :)