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Written by Yax - Published on March 11, 2008
Yax is the founder of DungeonMastering.com and the rumors that he is only a human puppet so Expy could launch a website are false.
Win a copy of Exemplars of Evil
It’s time for a another contest! Yay! And all you have to do to enter the contest is give some DMing advice!
Contest rules
- You get one entry in the contest for each DM tip you write (max 5)
- 1 tip per comment, please (so I can easily tally entries)
- If you’re a player, you can write about things you always enjoy in a game.
- Each comment must be 100 words or less (I won’t count. Just keep it short!)
- Contest ends on March 31st
The prize - Exemplars of Evil
I gave this book a raving review. It really rocks - and it will keep rocking even if you switch to 4E.
2 DM tips by Yax
I’ll participate in the tip sharing:
- Introduce a dragon, or a rumor about a dragon, in your next game session. Your players will love it. (Red dragons generate the most enthusiasm)
- It’s the night before a game and you don’t feel like preparing anything? Don’t! Wake up 30 minutes early the morning of the game and enjoy the motivating power of the last minute situation.
Let’s have fun with this
The point of this contest is to create a rich resource of quick-to-read, fun-to-read DM tips. Try to be helpful. Don’t be afraid to be funny.
Good luck on the contest!
Yax is the founder of DungeonMastering.com and the rumors that he is only a human puppet so Expy could launch a website are false.
- If you have a character who was sent to another plane of evil. Keep him in mind if your players go there. Remember that Lovable NPC form your newbie days? Dang there he is! Lets give em a hug.
Other then that no idea. :P
Still new to the concept of DM’ing.
If you use index cards, write out every status effect (deafened, blinded, fatigued, etc.) with the name on the front, and its effects on the back. That way you just hand them out when necessary and there’s no page-searching.
Mix and match cultures: Pick 1 element each from 2 or 3 real or fictional cultures. Free associate the connection between the elements. You have an instant base to build a new exotic culture to befuddle players. Example: Live in trees (Tolkien elves), Colorful clothing (several human cultures), Puritanical religion (many examples) - The True Holy Elves are a tribe of Wood Elves who follow the strict Lawful tenets of an ancient prophet. Like many other things, they regard the elven talent for stealth as dishonorable and thus sinful, so they wear bright and garish garb to avoid the temptation.
When in doubt, start a fight! Players love combat (most of them anyway).
Use Character Points for Good Roleplaying:
Instead of Awarding XP and Gold all the time, award “Character Points” which can be exchanged for in-game rewards.
For example:
+3 Character Points allows for 1 reroll in any situation
+5 character points can be used to gain an automatic critical hit, saving thorw or to maximize the results of a spell.
+10 character points can permanently give a +1 to any attribute or can reverse your character’s death.
Give out no more than 2 character points per session to keep them rare. Use them to reward excellent roleplaying, ingenuity or bravery/stupidity ;)
Reintroduce those NPC’s from yonder days. That innkeeper that you killed the rats for in your first adventure? You visit him on the way to your next adventure and find that his son has decided to become an adventurer and they decided to name their next child after one of the PC’s.
This adds alot of depth to your campaigns and will make your players actually care for the world they inhabit every saturday night.
Give them rivals. Not actually enemies that they will eventually fight and kill, but legitimate rivals that take the mission first, have already reserved the best rooms, and generally just get under the party’s skin. Saving the world is good and all, but it just gets boring after a while. Friendly (or intensely personal) competition is an amazing motivator.
Use Irony Games’ Webtools for maps. They have inns, villages, cities, archipelagos, whole worlds, clearings, &c.. Just don’t bet on the generators (NPC and such) being linked right - the page hasn’t been updated in years.
http://www.irony.com/webtools.html
If one of your players wants an uber item, don’t give it to them. Just keep throwing hints and random rumors of a great treasure and they’ll be happy enough searching for that. Hopefully they’ll forget about the one they wanted, and if not, give them something that won’t break your game, and have them keep looking.
Nothing says “Unplanned session,” like a nice long treasure hunt, but they’ll adjust. Just throw mid-grade items at them.
Keep a stack of chips with three or four different colours. Use them for rewards, be they XP or in game character awards, when the PCs do something extraordinary in regards to role playing their characters. I even occasionally toss them a character reward for something extraordinarily funny or amusing, even if it isn’t a roleplaying event per se. Sometimes it is just great to have fun!
At the beginning of the playing session (as in, the first game), ask the players to have a miniature that they would like to use for the game that is similar to how they see their own character. It will help them role play their character better, and the reaction they get when you plunk down that huge monster in front of them will be priceless!
I have a Legacy Campaign. It is the Campaign World of my own design that is over 20 years old. It is now the Forth Age. The players have played in it before, except they are generations removed from their previous PCs. The World is different, but similar. Other GMs could try the same thing. Dust off that old Campaign World, and freshen it up a bit. The PCs will enjoy the familiar, but different. They may even run into old NPCs that were once PCs…which could be a session in itself. How will the new PCs react to an ancient and wise PC from yonder…that they played before. They might even like to put on the hat and run the character for the GM!
My DM didn’t fully map-out adventures or missions, he sketched the idea and kept many pages of reference around (mostly the stats and equipment for any kind of security forces in the same county as us) because we had an incredible ability to completely de-rail whatever he had planned without us meaning to. We always got the task done, just never in the manner he expected.
Even in a fairly light roleplaying environment, giving the players time to plan/interact in character can lead to some interesting and often hilarious experiences. (A particular one comes to mind when we received a messaged that ended in ‘this message will self-destruct in 10 seconds’ and one of the players had never seen Mission Impossible and freaked out.)
Reward good character design. I made a very sub-optimal character once for the sake of making the character interesting and my DM rewarded me for doing so (he hates powergamers).
And for the love of gods (at least the lawful ones), require DM approval for anyone making a character of the other gender. I’ve only once seen a player make a character of the opposite gender that didn’t degenerate gameplay and that was a 6-foot tall hairy cross-dressing sorceress named Jodie.
Overrun them with rats. Or babies. Or anything small and easy to kill. It’s fun and simple enough so that the players can control much of the DMing portion. Let them run out of ammo and have to fight their way out the room, taking small damage round after round after round after round after round. It’s a fight of survival. And oh so much fun to hear “I killed 32, how about you?”.
“Maps are nice, but descriptions are nicer. Use simple graph paper or a single 8.5×11 one inch grid for simple maps. If you focus more on the descriptions and write down what’s in the areas it’ll make the room/dungeon/etc more fun and create a better suspension of disbelief.
The environment is more important than the monsters, because it will be there when the monsters are gone. It sets the mood, sets the expectations, lets you know what kind of cultures or creatures to expect. The environment is the car the monsters drive to get to work. Hence your players should appreciate the car before the driver. Spend time on a little description and it will make the world seem more vivid.”
“Use your hands. Very few people have the vocal range to do a lot of accents with which to bring their characters to life. Body language is better. Hunch, crouch, stand tall, wring your hands, point a lot, use large gestures… these convey a personality better than your bad accents. Use your body like your acting on a stage instead of your living room.”
“The rules are complex and sometimes difficult to understand, they are not the focus of the game though. Don’t let people lawyer the rules during the game, that’s not what everyone came to the session to do. Make your decision as a DM, stand by it without fail even if you think you’re wrong. Then, after the game let them argue they’re case. Listen to what they say, and decide if you agree or not. The rules are guidelines, and it’s your game. The only rule that is one hundred percent necessary is consistency. Players will accept your decisions, as long as you’re fair and stick to your guns. Show them you are willing to listen and that even if they disagree with you that they can count on rules that don’t change under them like quicksand. Nothing is worse than learning to play the game, only to find out that your DM doesn’t play by their own rules. Consistency.”
“Make stuff up, and do it often. The fun of fantasy is that it doesn’t actually have any rules, and I find the idea of normal fantasy an oxymoron. A tribe of tattooed hobgoblins that dies their hair blue from the bombardier beetles they breed? Awesome… suddenly hobgoblins are way more interesting. The small and friendly elven hamlet is really a tiny offshoot of the elven nation that’s hiding away because they practice cannibalism? That’s scary. So wait, the mage’s tower up the road here is dumping failed potion recipes into the river and now the fish can fly and breath lightening? wtf! The people coming to your table are there to have fun and escape reality, suspension of disbelief is important but it’s a game and anyone expecting a full-detail alternate reality doesn’t belong in the one they already have.”
“The best planning device you can use is a flow-chart. If there’s basically three ways something can go put it on the paper and draw three lines from it to what might happen in those three cases. You don’t have to flesh them all out, you might just flesh out the most likely ones, but what this does is allow you to at least have an idea of what you would do. That way you don’t frown or stare dumb-founded at your players when they decide the town mayor is a werewolf and kill him outright… only to find that he just really likes wearing a coonskin hat and heavy cloak when he goes for his evening jog. Flow charts take little time, can plot out tons of events (most you will never actually never use) and keep you three steps ahead of your players. You’ll feel prepared, wily, and in control even if you are not. Combine this with the “Make Stuff Up” theory and you can create hours worth of enjoyment without spending days in planning… though planning is still good.”
I like having the PCs create a background for their characters, and depending on how good it is, they can get XP bonuses to start their characters off. It also allows you to see what kind of ideas they have for playing their characters AND it gives you plot hooks to further the plot. After all, nothing says great planning like having the background of the PC “catch up” to them.
Another XP bonus I give the players is for in-game administrative tasks. The players who complete these tasks usually get a 100-250 XP bonus, depending on character level. These tasks are usually spread out amonst the PCs. I have one for Scribe detailing the history and significant events, I have one detailing/keeping treasure listed, a “mapper” - the PC who keeps all the maps for the party, a party speaker, in case of having to speak to NPCs, a lunch or snack administrator, who runs the snack run and takes down everyone’s orders for the break, etc. I am sure there are countless more out there. Anyone have any others?
Want to make an event a little more memorable? Add the element of weather. A fight in the poring rain makes it hard to hear/see/stand. A hunt in the snow: you follow tracks untill the wind blows them away. Make it so hot that no one can wear armor and fight. It’s so dry and everyone’s so parched that (GULP!) the bard can’t sing!
Less Random Rolls during Character Creation
Intro
Some people dislikes a lot of randomness in their games, ESPECIALLY during Character Creation. This is evident with the popularity of Point Buy and what not. But sometimes the other players want to roll dice while the other doesn’t. Therefore, I present you the Less Random Rolls during Character Creation variant.(LR²C²)
Below is a few ways to modify the rolls:
1d10+8 (9-18, adv of 13.5) Balanced Campaign, as the chances of a low score is lowered to 10% only, but the redeeming factor is a lower average by 1.
2d6+6 (8-18, adv of 13) Balanced Campaign, 20% chance to get negative score only, but have a the average roll lowered by 1.5
1d8+10 (11-18, adv of 14.5) For those who dislikes negative scores but wish to keep the average roll.
2d4+8 (10-16, adv of 13) As above, but slightly weaker for DMs who want to use the above, but think its too strong. Players lose the chance to have negative scores and in return, lose the highest positive modifier and is 1.5 average roll less than normal.
2d4+10 (12-18, adv of 15) High-Powered Campaign.
5d2+8 (13-18, adv of 15.5) High-Powered Campaign. Don’t mess with the PCs!
6+1d8 (7-14, adv of 10.5) Low powered Campaign. This is a good one to use for Commoners and NPCs
Conclusion
As seen, there are many ways to do this, just mix and match different dice combinations, calculate the average, minimum and maximum values and plop on a modifier. If you want 10-20, use 3d4+8!
Anyway, the only weakness of this system is that it reduces the amount of negative rolls seen, so hard-core RPers may be disappointed.
Thats all I can think of on the fly. Basically, use your knowledge of average dice rolls and make your own as you see fit.
Player taking too long to figure Polymorph / Wild Shape effects? Make them narrow the possibilities down to 10 choices, transcribed on index cards before the start of the session. Choosing and figuring stats will go much quicker!
Take your old maps out of their frames and re-run them, only how they are now after they’ve been searched and emptied. The characters will find empty chests, skeletons, sprung traps. Maybe even some hints of the first treasure hunters. You know, candy wrappers and dirty pictures scrawled on the walls. Maybe some old items the previous crew left behind. They can return to town with ghost stories or clues for the next group.
Associate a piece of music with each major NPC and play it whenever they show up. They will stand out more strongly and feel more unique to the players.
DM “So you’re all in the tavern, and-”
PC “Is there a bar wench? Is she hot”?
DM “Umm… Sure. Anyhow, there’s a dwar-”
PC “Okay. I passed my Charisma roll. I’m gonna do her”
DM “No, you’re not. So there’s this dwarf in the corn-”
PC “I did her. She loved it.”
…months and months later…
“A member of the city guard approaches you, and hands you a letter. It’s a court order for you to start supplying child support”.
Now the PC has to come up with $200 a month and must deliver. Now that’s fun!!
Improvise: when your players discuss among themselves what they think is going on, choose the explanation that seems the most exciting to them (or fun for you). It will change some of what you had planned, but the players will buy into it much more and have more fun.
When I dm’ed, I wrote each PC’s name(s) on a sheet of plain paper, then put the sheet in the sheet protector. Then while playing I could make notes on the sheet protector with a fine point dry erase marker, erasing, etc as needed. Makes keeping up with little things easier.
Hand out magic items on index cards, and give each an id number. If one has a curse or special conditions that the players should not be aware of, you can record it in your notes using the id number and reference it during play, adjudicating any surprise effects on the fly.
Remember the corn-husking village of Kobolds that was saved from the owlbears by the big strong adventurers? Well, they were so grateful that they told everyone how great the PC’s are and word has spread. Now they are begged at transfer stations or taverns or in mage tower kitchens to help out. They are followed by children seeking audience, or lonely widows and lobbyists. I prefer to have the druid followed by stray cats.
If you can prepare a session beforehand, instead of reading the background text to the players at the beginning, you can email it to them before the session starts (at least a day ahead so they have time to read it). You’ll avoid wasting valuable session time together and pique their interest in your adventure hook.
Implement time travel with vintage rules. Have your party’s souls sent back in time to inhabit the bodies of adventurers from long ago. Have character sheets ready to hand out, and take them on a rollicking 1st or 2nd edition dungeon crawl. Let the outcome (including a TPK) affect the present adventure.
Let players occassionally describe the deaths of their enemies. If they land the killing blow on an orc, say “You killed him. Describe it.”
This lets them choose the outcome and describe their character as they wish, and it takes some of the pressure off of you, them DM. You have enough stuff to describe!
To spice up your average campaign, have your characters find a crypt sealed by an ‘elder-sign’. The sign is cracking…
… inside can be any evil your campaign needs, mine needed the evil son of the god of war …
For the next quest, give the players instructions in poetry form. I prefer five beats, alternating rhyming lines. Make sure to give the players a copy of the instructions.
I like to use Hero designer and excel to make paper stand-ups of the characters (and humanoids) the players face. The back of each piece is a black silhouette. Other monsters are done is various to-scale sizes (dragons and other long creatures like tigers) are right and left sides. Giants are taller. Much cheaper than figures, and you can make the player characters look like the characters.
I rigged a cheap ($75) torpedo video projector, a small mirror and a white board cut to fit our table top into a scale map projector for my group. Now all of those cool maps you can download from WotC can be shown to your players as they explore!
As a bonus, they can put their figures right onto the map!
My players love it. It speeds up play but puts a higher burden on pre-game setup as you need to scale each map to the same scale. I use paint.NET and layers to handle reveals and grid overlays as the players explore.
Use your contacts as NPCs.
If you have trouble coming up with a personality for an NPC think of people you know.
You go to a bar or tavern, think of the bartender at your favorite place. Think of the mixologist at the local Applebees or TGIFridays.
You have a Warrior type, think of the coach of your local team or if you know members of the team, use them as your idea for the NPC.
Have a name tag ready for each major NPC and wear the appropriate one when the PCs interact with that character. If you want to get real fancy, add a small portrait of the NPC on the name tag.
One idea was index cards for magic items
Just start with a blank card just saying long sword or wand or ring … give it a code that you use to cross reference it. They can write down things about it as they use it.
ie. easier to swing, does more damage
… talks to me in my dreams
… feels warm to the touch
Include a couple of completely unimportant NPCs that keep showing up in unexpected places for comic relief. Just make sure they don’t get killed by overzealous PCs! It’s okay to fudge rolls or come up with a bizarre way that the NPC escapes death by PC.
I went to the art supply store and found an A2 size page protector for £1.50. We put the blank battle grid inside it and used it for our miniatures. The DM can draw each room on the grid with a dry erase marker as we enter it. It’s not quite as cool as the video projector Chris Olson mentioned, but definitely cheaper and faster.
Flexiblity is paramount. Never be to set on something happening players are awesome for screwing the best laid plans
Tip #2: make your players apart of the design of the campaign. Ask them to write background stories for there characters and use that as the cannon and fodder for your adventure building
Tip #3: Never bite off more than you can chew. Make sure your group is managable, 5-8 players is more than enough…and don’t take the stresses of your day out on the PC’s.
always have a trick or two up your sleeve, never let the players see it coming. Just when they think they got you on the ropes let em’ have it…you’ll earn the rep of being a slick sweet DM.
my final tip is br creative, be innovative…even if you’re basing your adventure off something else (the movie under seige for example) this DnD for god’s sake. Throw in a twist or two. Like the ship is headed for a vortex to another plane and time running out.
When planning NPCs, one simple way to help personalize them is to mentally tie them to a famous actor or movie character. That way when it comes time to “act” as that NPC, you aren’t entirely making everything up…you’re imitating. Inflection, behavior, mannerisms, even their general mentality, all of these can be easily drawn from pre-established sources like this. Another way it helps is if they go back to NPC #421 months later and you don’t even remember the initial meeting, if you have written down “Joseph - talks like Nixon” then you already have enough to maintain continuity.
As a DM, I use a sheet of 1/4″ plexiglass placed over the white blank battlemap found in the back of the DMG, with dry erase markers, I can quickly drawl out the environment and not reveal too much at one time.
I always use Legos for my group’s minis: Even if you don’t use them during the game, having a character that you can customize and easily describe works wonders for getting players invested in their characters. Of course, we usually *do* use them during the game, so the mini can whack a bunch of Lego skeletons or get eaten by a dragon.
Always include at least one homebrewed race, plane, class, or other custom element. It’ll help make the campaign more memorable, so a “Let’s kill the Yuan-Ti. Again. *yawn*” campaign arc turns into “There’s a race of reptiles trying to take over the world, and we have no idea what they are, where they come from, or what they can do!” The less you do things by-the-book, the better.
To come up with names on the fly and give them verisimilitude, come up with a set pattern so the names don’t seem as random; drawing from real-world languages and naming schemes is a plus. For example, in one of my games I decided that the inhabitants of one particular magocracy would have Greek-looking names with German pronunciation, so when I needed a name fast, I had a list of “1001 Ancient Greek Names” handy and pronounced them like Arnold Schwarzenegger. My players thought (A) I had already planned the names out, so they thought Joe Random Commoner was more important than he actually was, and (B) because the Greek/German juxtaposition was so strange to them, they thought I was much more creative than I actually am!
To quickly come up with maps of worlds, continents, nations, or islands, real-world maps are incredibly useful. For instance, Google a map of Europe in the 1600s, flip it horizontally, rotate it 30 degrees, cut off the easily-recognized Italian peninsula, and voila, a new map! Unless your players are history buffs, chances are it will be just familiar enough to make it seem realistic but not obvious enough for them to say, “Wait a minute…that’s just ancient Europe flipped, rotated, and cropped!”
Go out of your way to use uncommon events or inspiration. Because D&D is based off of medieval Europe, with bits of ancient Japan and China thrown in with Oriental adventures and some Middle East flavor from prior editions, you can add a lot to your campaign just by drawing from somewhere else. Drop an ancient Aztec kingdom into your games, model a tribe of Wood Elves off the Cherokee, or throw in an empire with a Byzantine political structure. Even if they are obvious, it will be a nice change of pace.
Have the PCs actually affect the world around them based on their choices of which missions they complete.
For example, a choice of search and rescue at a recently raided village vs. raiding and capturing the now mostly empty orc stronghold.
Search and rescue means the community is likely to survive another winter, and possibly provide resources to the party in the future, while the orcs have a chance to return to their stronghold and prepare for another raid.
Attacking the stronghold almost eliminates the orc presence in the area, but that community may not exist in the next year.
Always save your (or your players) character sheets when they die or retire. As they accumulate, a quick name change brings a fully fleshed out NPC to the table at the drop of a hat.
If your players are distracted or maybe a particular section of the adventure is a bit slow, use random rolls of the dice behind the DM screen to get their attention.
This works best in a tavern, shop or where there will likely be some NPCs for you to play off of. Roll the dice; pretend to study the results and flip through some pages quickly. When the players look expectantly at you, just say something like “Just checking on something. Nevermind.”
They’ll go nuts trying to figure out what you were rolling for, and most of the time it brings them right back to the plot or story of the adventure.
Sometimes its fun to throw an NPC at the players who is not an unknown, shadowy mysterious figure they must eventually kill. Sometimes the best villains are ones they know, political figures or even underworld bosses. Maybe someone they ticked off and who has the power to make their lives miserable.
If you create such an NPC and have the players interact with (and learn to hate) this NPC, then a few sessions down the line, you can neatly tie this NCP into a plotline. This gives the players a nice opportunity for payback and the emotional investment breathes real life into your campaign.
funny one ,but true:
Make sure the DM’s significant other gives them plenty of sex the day before or the day you are scheduled to play. This will ensure a more calm and serene DM who is less likely to take out his frustrations on yoru hapless player characters.
When running a convention game, I have always found it useful to begin the session with a combat. It makes for an exciting intro and is even better when you take it easy on the initial flavor text…it just kind of jump starts the session.
I have used this for my regular campaign as well ,but it doesn’t work as well if the pcs happen to be in a place where it really doesn’t make sense for a combat.
try to work on an accent or personal tick for your main npc or bad guy for the evening. I often brainstorm( out loud) even with goofy accents trying to come up with good schticks for my npcs….especially the main bad guy…
the crazier the more memorable.
Even if you aren’t a natural cut-up like me, you can always describe the npc the same way so that he is more memorable.
for example, suppose a wicked king talks in a voice similar to Jack NIcholson…now as long as you keep his name appropriate to the setting it will avoid becoming campy(unless that’s what you want)…and he will definitely be more memorable to the players. Even if you can’t do a good imitation of his voice, you can mimic famous lines…ie, for this king, he says to the pcs (very angrily), ” You know the people want me on this throne…they need me on this throne…”, or” The truth of the kingdom…you can’t handle the truth!”
If you are playing with minis, lots of handy household items can be used to enhance game place — a small, clear plastic remainder from a package might could signify a flying character. Blocks, boxes, etc. can all become terrain. Doesnt have to be super creative or detailed, but anything that helps with visualization.
Check the discount rack at grocery stores/drug stores/toy stores for cheap minatures. Plastic little farm animals, creepy crawlie fake spiders and other bugs can all be used in most in town and dungeon adventure.
Play-doh– particularly the mini-birthday party-favor sizes– is handy for when someone drops their weapon or summons a non-standard animal or you need to improvise some feature or item.
Your mileage may vary on this one ,but I think preparation is key:
winging things can be fun ,but it always seems to affect consistency in a campaign and nothing can ruin a game faster than when the versimilitude of the setting is ruined by inconsistent facts( ie, the bar owner of the Welcome Wench has a name that seems to change every time the pcs come in for a drink or the local temple ’s high priest seems to change his age or looks from time to time)…
Spend time thinking about your setting , making accurate notes, and thinking carefully about the consequences of the pcs actions….making their actions and inactions count gives more believability to your world….
this is a sound piece of advice I wish I would follow more often….nip the rules lawyers in the bud…if something comes up that involves a little known or little used rule…just make a quick judgment and then look it up later.
It has been said before ,but it is much better to keep the
game moving and make a small mistake or two than to bring
things to a grinding halt to look up an obscure rule that
may or may not be hugely significant in the end.
NOw if it is a life or death situation, you may wish to
take the time to look up the rule…in this case it is probably better to have the grieving player look the rule
up while you continue on with other pc actions( if at all
possible)
Instead of rolling on a random encounter table (if running a published module), pick one or two encounters off of that list, and prep them for the most in opportune time for the PCs.
Search online for pictures from flikr and the like for scenery and people (in partic look for Renn Faire sets and groups) — gives your party visuals to connect with the flavor text (and you may not have to read so much flavor text). The PC’s may be more likely to remember that NPC’s name as well if they have a face to place with a name.
I took our adventure map, the one with a dungeon on one side and a blank on the other, and laminated it so I can write on it with dry erase markers.
I use index cards, write my players info on them and another one with words like, “Dragon”, “Monster”, “Spell”, etc. to keep up with initiative and how long things last. Everytime the “Spell” comes up, put a mark on it to keep up with rounds.
-When in doubt about environment monsters, just make up an appearance and use the stats of a random monster. Assassin Vines work in the Forest, but Living Stalagmites work just as fine in a cave!
-Players tend to like recurring characters, especially if they are comic relief. Make an NPC and have him show up every now and then, level him with them to create a challenge whenever they do decide to kill him.
-Cheez-its make the best monsters EVA! (why clean up when you can eat the pieces?)
-If you have a cool plot idea but can’t find the spell/ability needed to pull it off, just make an item of uberness. It bypasses the rules problem of why a level 6 Saytr has somehow forced an entire town to act as if they were in a Broadway musical.
-Giving out experience points is never all that fun and it makes things more complicated when your level 11 Sorcerer decides to run into the forest to get that last 500 xp while ignoring the roleplaying going on at the nearby town. In my campaign we just hand out levels in the general period at which they are earned. Killed 20 creatures in one day? Get a level. Killed 20 creatures in 3 days? No level. Slept with the King’s daughter? Gain a Level. Persuaded the King not to kill you after sleeping with his daughter? Gain a Level!
If you have several players who are playing online games while you are running, you might want to consider that you’re not being very inclusive of some folks.
If you have several players who are playing online games while you are running and you still have enough people that they have to break up into individual discussion groups without effecting the main plotline, you might want to consider that you’ve got too many players.
Any time a new player enters your game and says he has an intelligent vorpal sword named ‘Wolverine’, kill his character and force him to make a new one. Trust me.
Any time a new player enters your game and spends all his idle time talking about his history of killing other PC’s, have a lot of antacid and painkillers available. It’s going to be a long night.
If your players spend all their spare time and money putting ‘glyphs of warding’ over every dwelling they stay in, wagon they ride in or ship they sail in, there’s a problem.
If they cover a pavillion tent with glyphs of warding to put around the entire camp every night because their horses and followers keep getting slaughtered, there’s a problem.
If they exult over having the same character to play after two weeks play, there’s a problem.
If they get to the end of a session and are paranoid because no one has died, there’s a problem.
Time to review the term “Challenge Rating”, Genghis.
At the beginning of every gaming session I have one of the players recap the previous session. It helps get the action started, insures that they pay attention, and it is really very interesting to see what they found important and what they skipped over. The stuff you thought was most important—glossed over or ignored. LOL
This can’t be used all the time but occasionally I insure I have some reason to take one or sometimes two players aside. I make sure they bring their dice and we whisper. Sometimes I give them information they were seeking on a Gather Information check or reminding them about a previous experience or even sometimes combat if they’ve gone off alone.
This has to be done VERY carefully so the other players don’t get bored. You should only take a few minutes and preferably while the other players are working on a puzzle, deciding a course of action, or taking a piss break.
I like doing this because for a few minutes that person is special. The focus is entirely on them. It also adds an air of mystery if they refuse to tell the rest of the group what happened (ESPECIALLY with rogues).
I don’t do this every session, just when I feel the time is right or if I have something specific in mind.
Alphadean already mentioned this but I’m going to repeat it because I do it too.
Each of my players has to write a bio on their character. I’m not looking for novels or amazing storytelling ability just something about their character. Why did they become an adventurer instead of a farmer? Then I weave aspects of that into the campaign. If done decently well then the characters have a more vested interest in their characters and in the story that is happening around them. It also makes for difficult choices when elements of one character’s background comes to life and they have to follow the adventure or whatever background element is haunting them.
Discover what it is your players’ characters care about. Then take it away or threaten it. Oftentimes I find the players writing their own plots as they scheme of ways to find, recover, or protect what it is their characters love.
Remember that the players’ characters are the star of the movie. Its their job to save the world, end the threat, or discover the mystery. Your NPCs are they to pat them on the back after they do it.
Never write an adventure/campaign plot in pen. Use a pencil so it is easier to re-tool and re-fit. Revisit the plot every month or so. Visit the NPCs and see what they are up to when you can. Discover interactions between the plot and the NPCs that have nothing to do with the PCs and the world starts breathing on its own.
During the week leading up to a game, talk to your players or call them and try to figure out what element of the upcoming game they’re pumped about.
Make sure this element is present during the game.
Know your players and what their motivations are. If you have players who want to go and see what is over the hills, don’t tie your adventure to a specific place. If your players prefer political intrigue, don’t give them a dungeon crawl.
Don’t be afraid to give the group an obstacle that’s too hard to defeat the “conventional” way (e.g. a monster that’s probably too tough). It forces them to be creative, and that can give you some incredible results.
When statting NPCs, don’t get too caught up in the rules. Only the worst lawyers are going to care if someone’s got a couple more skill points than they should if it makes the character more interesting.
Pay attention to any unusual traits or abilities your PCs have. If they spent points/resources/whatever to acquire it, give them a chance to use it in the game.
One of the best things you can do to your players is to change
everything for them - anotherwords, slap on a template. Do this to
all the players, the same templates, and make sure it’s important to
the story (but carries some mystery). Then, make sure you make the
players use their templates. It will change everything - for the
better.