Share your D&D knowledge and win!
Posted by Yax on March 11, 2008
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!
- 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.
Want to spice up your session? Give one of the PCs a secret admirer. Have mysterious flowers, gifts, etc. get randomly delivered to the PC. The “better” the gifts (i.e. more pricey, interesting, or powerful), the more it will make the PCs jealous, curious, and/or suspicious. This can be used as a fun sidelight for a campaign, or can be a tool to introduce new plot hooks. (What if the admirer turns out to be the PCs’ arch-enemy, and is using the gifts to sow dissent amongst the party?)
Don’t disregard simplicity.
The big reveal doesn’t have to be an intricate, fourteen-layered scheme dating back six years. Heck, chances are the PCs won’t remember that far back anyways! Don’t be afraid to go simple. The king IS being controlled by the sinister vizier. The evil dragon DID really kidnap a princess. And so on.
And then of course switch it up one time and really mess with their heads. They’ll be totally surprised and will love it.
If you are starting a campaign about 1st level, let the players decide just what they’ve accomplished so far! Work out a simple story/history on how they met long ago, but then turn it over to them in a “choose your own adventure” fashion. Have a few achievements jotted down, like “killed Urgo the ogre” or “rescued princess from gnolls”, and present them with the scenario. Then let them tell you what exactly went down.
(bonus tip: if you can, make sure to include at least one scenario that lets each PC shine!)
The results will usually be hilarious, but it also builds some quick, easy bonding moments for the PCs. Maybe they killed Urgo the ogre by burning his house down. Maybe they hired an assassin to kill him. Maybe they didn’t actually kill him, but just bribed him to move away! The possibilities are endless.
In the actual game, the players can reference all these “great memories” (even though they were just created 5 minutes ago!) or even continue to elaborate on them. It also turns them from “strangers thrown together by fate” into an established, experienced team with some notches on their belt to be proud of. AND it creates countless plot hooks that you know the players will be interested in, since they were the ones who created them in the first place!
Here’s the one I always use..ask every PC a dark (or maybe not-so-dark, but the darker the funner…) secret of theirs, and sew that in the adventures. When the big-bad-guy comes along and is actually the brother or sister of one of the PC’s, sure it’s cliché, but it makes for great-great role playing.
People are a key factor. The players for one, someone mentioned above give each a secret of some kind - an old enemy/friend, longlost brother, murky past, escaped slave etc. Then that person or circumstance, surprise surprise, turns up - half the time the Player will do it for you, or be looking for it! the other side of the coin ins the NPCs, as much as their idiosyncrasies, mannerisms and personalities, try to give THEM a secret of some kind, and then let THEM interact, with each other as well as the players; the best fun of all can be had if an NPC, even a trusted and friendly one, has some kind of axe to grind that he/she simply cannot ignore!
On the same line as people, a good way to add “instant detail” to your NPCs is via Factions, particularly in a city. The various guilds of a Mediaeval City, its Watchmen, Criminals, offduty soldiers and sailors, noble families and Merchant Princes,Smugglers, traders, priests,charlatans, Magicians, Professors and visitors will all have Views and a stance on any given subject or happening, the theft or loss of something/someone, a voyage or trip or the reason for it; anything the PCs may have in mind, and will probably want to know the reason for it and have reason to favour it or hamper it. How do these factions feel about the Players and about each other, and how does the faction to whom an NPC belongs feel? An easy way to decide what he will do, whether or not it is with enthusiasm?
“Small” adventures, almost sidelines, can add interest, detail and History.Some forgotten Royal tomb somewhere, of where was its occupant the king, why and what happened to him? Hook; what did he have or was he that made him a King, some forgotten knowledge or some artifact, and is it still there? Whaddaya mean, the Dark is Rising? What Dark?
Is there a Museum or Gallery somewhere that has, forgotten, some all-important thing that could be the Difference; and what are your chances of convincing the Powers that Be of that? If you get caught messing where you shouldn’t be, how plausible IS your story? WE know you meant well, but what about the Priests of Whosit!?
The best source of adventure is people! Make your NPCs themselves changeable. Comment on my “secrets” tip above, what if even the NPC doesn’t know his own secret? An example from one of my stories was the Black and White Brothers,identical twins separated at birth, the only one who knew both existed, let alone which was which AND WHICH THE ELDEST, was the Aged Nurse and, of course Black Brother, raffish rogue,thief, swordsman, duellist etc. NOT an arch villain but “bent as a bucket of worms”. White Brother was a Crusader, Champion of Light, Knight Errant, Cavalier, aspirant to Paladinhood,Sun King and Priest of Sol who didn’t even know of his brother but when he did find out Took Steps to erase him, thus falling from Grace himself!
In the beginning the PCs got into endless trouble figuring out first that there WERE two of this guy, who kept fading out leaving them holding the baby, and secondly that Goody was now slightly Baddy and (Man in the Iron Mask) Baddy was Goody.
Life got more and more complicated by the existence and interference of Heaven’s Left Hand,a band of ex-Crusaders among whom was Frater Nicodemus, AKA Brother Cadfael, (qv), more worldly than might be guessed (study the early history of the Papacy)who had made the acquaintance of the Assassins in the Holy Land. Then the real Assassins pitched up!
See the Factions!
If you think that one of your players is fudging his own dice rolls, or simply is unable to roll them safely without knocking over the miniatures or bouncing them into someone’s drink, then get everyone to roll their dice into an upturned frisbee (or similar) in the centre of the table.
This way all [players'] rolls are public and they will not fly off the table to be found by the cat three days later.
Starting to regret that magical sword you gave your players last week? You need two things: A magic user that has the “Warp Wood” spell wherein he can render wooden weapons useless and a Rust Monster.
“Well someone can just keep hitting the rust monster with magic spells!”
Ok, then have a magic user make the rust monster invisible or cast other spells on it rendering it virtually undetectable. Use your imagination…You ARE the DM.
Sometimes players can take a very long time deciding what to do for their next move.
You could introduce an egg timer and force players to decide on a course of action within one minute or so, but I sometimes use an approach that works very well at the start of an encounter.
If I feel that the player is taking too long, I will periodically advance the opposing minis one square every 30 seconds.
Either the slow player will speed up on their own, or they will be ‘encouraged’ to do so by the other players.
Yay! 100 DM tips already! Keep em coming!
When players roll against skills/spells/stats to gain information, there is a dilemma. When the player fails, the result is usually supposed to be false information. If the player rolls, and knows that the roll was a failure, the false info will be ignored. If the gm routinely secretly rolls in such cases, the players may well feel railroaded. Two tricks to use occasionally in such situations: 1) Tell the player to roll but not what skill/stat is being rolled against. 2) Name the stat, but announce that the roll is at an (unspecified) penalty. In both cases, the player will know if the roll was exceptionally good or bad but will not usually be certain whether it succeeded. This preserves the usability of false info for failure but lets the player feel ownership of the result.
I lot of people over look 2 major things. the glossary and the index. These are the two tools that help me the most, when I need to find something I search the Glossary. There is an entire chapter devoted to it in the Dungeon Masters Guide. Another Tool I’ve used is the Rules Compendium, which has just about every rule that appears listed alphabetically. Very useful since it make searching for answers quick and painless. and If you can’t find it in 30 seconds, skip it and go back later marking it with a stick note.
:)
I like to use a yahoo or google group for my world. As a campaign is starting up players can give backgrounds on their characters in the ‘file’ section. Also, I can give out meta-game info for them to make decisions on what they want to play.
As the campaign unfolds, players can use messaging for between game fluffy stuff we don’t need to roleplay I hate trips to the general store, there are only so many times you can make it fun to buy a 6 pack of torches!
They even use it for some in character banter that ties the group together and gives them more ammo to work with at the table when we play.
Always remind the PCs that there is someone a LOT more powerful somewhere in the World/Universe/Multiverse/Abyss/Heaven/Whatever-rocks-your-boat. This can be a great motivator for PC development, and will settle any power-hungry fireball-hurling PC unleashed in the town square because he thought “The DM is not going to kill me!”
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in a campaign is baiting players with something you know you can’t give them without unbalancing your campaign. A good example is three wishes from a genie. While genies are known for being tricky, be ready that the players may come up with a cleverly worded wish.
One of the worst DM experiences I had was with a DM who baited us with any wish we wanted, but really had no intention of fulfilling the wish for the characters. one fo our party worded something very carefully and the DM pretty much denied him the wish, saying he had worded it wrong, though the player’s request really didn’t fail in the way the dm had claimed.
Be fair, and don’t offer the players something you’re not ready to give.
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Location, location, location.
You take your players to a dungeon and set up monsters, treasure, and traps. Wait, why the heck is there even a dungeon here? Who the heck set up all these traps? Where did that rat get a room with treasure in it?
While dungeons are nice locations for adventure, remember that they once served a purpose. Were they escape routes in case of emergency for emperors, secret trade routes for black market deals, or perhaps a place where criminals hid their treasure from others who would take it away. The stone and mortar walls didn’t simply erect themselves, and the traps didn’t put themselves together in wait for adventurers. Figure out the back story of your dungeon as you create it.
Either include etchings in the walls, stories around town, etc. to give the dungeon some background. Make it a character in your story. How do your characters even know to hunt for treasure there in the first place? You can make your adventures a lot deeper by writing why things are the way they are, and embedding this information into your story.
Don’t be too predictable:
Watch how you design your adventures and adjust accordingly. This issue comes up quite often in video games such as first person shooters. When you find yourself coming across heavy weapons, ammo, lots of health packs, armor, and everything you could ever want all in one room, you begin to sweat because something really big and mean that’s going to require every bit of that is only a few feet away.
Similarly, in an adventure, look for things you are doing that always precede something else. If players seem to predict your magic doors, traps, or anything else, look for what you might have said to tip them off. If they’re just smart, that’s fine, but you might describe things a certain way, adopt a certain tone of voice, or something else. Look for patterns and shake things up.
Here’s a fun tip that can be used to handle horse races, dog races, chases, and any other type of competition where the goal is to get from point a to b before the rest. This works best when players are observing and not participating however.
You’ll need
Dice - You can use a single die, or up to half of the number of participants. 3d6 is good for six racers, 1 to 4d8 can be used for eight, etc.
&
Markers for progress - This can be done on a scratch pad, but it will really make it exciting if players can watch the progress and cheer for their favorite. Try setting squares and a start and end point for tension.
Set up the markers on the starting line. Now assign each marker a number. This works well with races since each contestant is numbered. Roll the dice, and when a number corresponding to a racer comes up, move that racer forward. If 5 comes up, racer five moves up a spot. If three 5’s comes up, everyone else remains still while racer 5 zooms up three spaces.
Roll the dice behind your DM screen if you want and do your darndest to sound like a horse race announcer. “Wait, what’s that? 5 makes a surprising come from behind, rushing up the right side and passing the others to take the lead”
As someone already said, keep the old character sheets. The ones of dead PC, the ones of dead or forgot campaigns…but keep them. And 5 years later, bring them to your players. They will cry :)
You feel that your campaign in getting boring for your players? Is time top give them a buit of spotlight. Write their name n index cards, and shuffle them. Than follow this random order. Starting from the first two, organize every session so that their character can SHINE. If is the turn of a thief, avoid undeads and construct (immune to sneak attacks), put a lot of shadows and something to steal. If you want to make happy the fighter, challenge him in an orchish tournament.
When preparing an investigative adventure, put 3 times the number of clues you expect them to find. A team of players investigating has to face a lot of difficulties:
- the adventure can last many sessions…and is difficult to remeber everythig
- a single Spot check can destoy forever their hope of finding a specific clue
- a team is not always communicating perfectly.. maybe someone has not said to the mage that the prince in a vampire…
- not all the players are always present…and is really boring for a DM to have to report a specific clue because the absent one is the only person knowing it.
Sometime a player comes up with a very fuzzy understandig of a rule, or forgets a single line of text that destroies its supreme plan…be gentle :) I allow “Heroism point”. If you make something epic, you gain one. You can spend Heroism points to bend (a bit) a rule. ie. You can charme a zombie. Or jump longer than you maximum distance.
Do you Need inspiration for a new NPC? Take a walk in a crowded place and look at the people. It’s magic!
This is more for new DM’s, but if you are violating this one, try to adjust please.
Don’t make the mistake of tieing yourself too much to your materials. You don’t need to own a specific miniature to bring a monster in. I’ve seen a few new players and dm’s make this mistake early on. If you don’t have the materials to represent something, don’t be afraid to use a stand in, a coin, another miniature, anything. You’ll save money for other gaming supplies and you won’t have your players complaining about the 30th troll encounter they’ve had to face.
I use my laptop during every gaming session.
There are free wikis online you can use, various data base programs like TreePad which I use.
The hypertext SRD is a great rules source, and you can set it as a bookmark file on your bookmark toolbar so you can open it automatically.
do a search for TreePad and the hypertext SRD to find the websites
As you probably know, players love it when they find a map and really get some piece of paper. How about giving them some real smell when approaching undead?
make shure that players have scrap paper to pass you notes if they want to do something to other players like stealing things for all those rouges
take time before a game and make props like soak the map you are giveing to players (keep a copy for yourself untouched) in coffee and allow to dry and add burn marks and water stains it not only makes it look authentic but allows you to hide some of those rooms you really want them to look for
have a few random battles planned ahead of the time so that you can utilize it at a moments notice
Someone mentioned above using representations for minis you don’t have? Also worth bearing in mind the card/paper mini for this purpose, there are literally thousands of them online, even if you don’t create your own, and they are easily altered, subtly or otherwise, to represent something your players have never met or even thought of! Also useful when the monsters come mob-handed, you can have whole posses of Undead, Orcs etc., coming from all directions!
When finding formidable monsters it is worth thinking about having lots and lots of “little” ones rather than one large creature, making the players vulnerable to the “swarm” attack that a band of PCs might dish out to a single large creature? Bear in mind that even if the beasties are only vermin or small Goblinoids, they have a chance to hit, particularly vulnerable members of the Party, and the most deadly Fighter has usually only one attack, which may result in the most incredible overkill for every little creature, but many of them can “nibble” him to death, or at least to desperately ill!
Another thought about smaller monsters is to give them some unusual attack, say flying or missile attack, a mass of Goblin archers that the PCs can’t reach can be very embarrassing! And the obvious one is have those mini-monsters using tripwires or ropes, to take out the heavy hitters in a way that their Armour Class cannot foil?
And another thought, use some sort of difficult terrain to the enemy’s advantage? It is surely only fair that a tribe of small beasties would have fortified their lair to some extent - they will be much harder to winkle out from behind those barricades! They may have prepared traps, or ambushes via Secret or Concealed doors, to vulnerable rear members of the party - say that heavy-artillery MU at the rear?
A bottleneck or chicane also favours the defender, if they have some way in which many of them can concentrate on just one attacker, particularly if he is fighting at a disadvantage, say on a precarious cliff ledge, while climbing, in water or in a doorway?
Take a group of index cards, fold them in half the long way, and make them into mini table tents. Then write the number 1 through 8 on them and once initiative is settled, hand them out in order. Knowing who’s next is easy!
Once or twice per session, roll the dice in private, giggle maniacally, then look around the table and realize you’re not alone, then furiously scribble something down on a piece of paper. Sometimes I keep making eye contact with one player while I do it, totally unsettling.
Dice can be miniatures, then they’ve even got a built in counter for damage or effects. For example, that d12 is a barbarian, when he rages, set the number of rounds his rage lasts as the top number, then count them down.
D6ers work great in a goblin fight for hit points.
Have a food run before the game. We go to the grocery store deli section and get a roast chicken and cooked sausage, some fresh bread from the bakery, fruits and nuts, and other food that can pass for authentic “adventurer” fare. (Okay, usually some cakes or cookies make it into the cart too….)
Everyone starts the session with a full plate, and there are plenty of items to snack on throughout the day. Everyone is cheerful and well fed and no one has to duck out to hit a drive through.
Don’t ever favour one players character over another. Ever. Not only could this possibly create a situation where one PC is far more power than the others (for example, turning one of them into a red dragon) but it’ll make the rest of your players feel superfleous and left out.
Be prepared to have your lovingly crafted game world entirely ignored by the players - don’t attempt to force them to something or railroad them somewhere. By all means let it come back and bite them in the ass later on though.
Try a wide variety of systems and settings - shake things up a bit by playing Runequest, Shadowrun, DnD and even homebrew games.
Know the style and setting of the game. As fun as it might be to do silly things every now and then during your campaign try and keep to its style - if you’re running a wacky game with killer sheep and nazi moon bases don’t expect the players to have much of an emotional attachment to cahracters, palces and NPCs.
Similarly, if you’re playing a serious LotR style game then don’t give one of your characters an ion cannon.
Resist the urge to have an awesome-red-dragon-powerful NPC. Whether a friend or enemy of the PCs few will enjoy watching a character do something incredibly fun and kick ass that they’ll never have the chance to try themselves.
when dealing with a rules lawyer, tell them that you’ll do it your own way now, and it’s open for discussion when the session is over. nobody has remembered to argue yet!
give NPCs funny voices or accents. I once had a lost little Kobold named Jalaask. i gave him a voice i can only describe as being like a chihuahua, and the players loved him!
save complicated explanations for after the session. The worst thing i’ve ever done for a session is spend more than 10 seconds explaining something to the players, it destroys the mood. instead, save it for later when you have as much time as you need.
when players get a new skill or anything, give them a chance to try it out. One of my players was really excited about having a character with high charisma and a few ranks in diplomacy, so when he found the Kobold mentioned above, he calmed his nerves, and even convinced him to lead the party to the kobold warcamp. unfortunately for the young Kobold, the party wiped them all out, but it was a good opportunity for the PC to use his new ranks in diplomacy.
don’t foil the PCs efforts. If they make a lot of creative attempts at something you didn’t want them to do (navigate a maze, track down where a villain is hiding in town) go ahead and let them succeed. nothing is more frustrating than a DM ignoring their work and making up reasons for them to fail.
Always follow the Law of Conservation of NPCs. If you already introduced an NPC that could possibly fit into the slot you need, use the preexisting NPC before creating a new one.
When mystery or secrecy don’t benefit the game, dump them. For example, describing every minor magical item (potions, wands, scrolls, etc.) the party finds without telling them the function just wastes time as they try to identify them. Unless there is a specific plot purpose why they don’t know what the dark liquid is, tell them.
Whenever you have to look through your notes while the PCs talk to an NPC, have the NPC also look through a book or stack of papers to increase the verisimilitude of the scene.
Always make important clues and tasks achievable through a variety of means. If a PC needs to learn something, let him use Knowledge, Gather Info, Search, Sense Motive, or any other skill that might reasonably work. In combat, let any skill that could provide some advantage (for example, Knowledge: Architecture to get a bonus to knock down a pillar or drop a chandelier on opponents) do so.
Don’t roll unless it matters. When the PCs craft poison, use their ranks to determine what they CAN craft, not whether or not they do it. If they fail, they’ll just try again, so don’t bother with the rolling.
I found that having the players sit down and talk out an outline of who and what their group is help out a lot. Ask the questions of does the GM need a group to be some in particular for the plot? What will they be starting out doing, how they met and stuff like that.
Many times when I have an encounter with a “bucketful” of orcs I sometimes forget HP for this or that. When I do statblocks for say six orcs after the stats of the orcs I keep a section that looks like this and check off the zero’s when they get hit. It works for bigger monsters too.
Orc 1 || 00000 000
Orc 2 || 00000 000
Orc 3 || 00000 000
Orc 4 || 00000 000
Orc 5 || 00000 000
Orc 6 || 00000 000
With summon monster and summon nature’s ally spells sometimes it can feel like pokemon more then AD&D. I play with the optional rule from Unearthed Arcana for “customized” summoning lists. I then have the player (or me) stat out each creature and have it on a sheet or better yet a 3×5 or 4×6 index card. If it’s not stated…not summoned even if we agreed already you could summon it.
One word…blue booking. I got the idea from another RPG…loved it and use it. I give out some kind of reward to my players who write up a wrap up of what happened from their character’s perspective. Metagamers need not to apply. This can be bad in the hands of a metagamer. In that case I’d have them go first then the non-metagamers go after.
Don’t shoot down ideas players come up with for a character but don’t let them have free reign. Work with them but don’t let them own you. Realize when you are about to give to much up and when you are not giving enough.
I used the SRD to create spell cards, one spell on a 4×6 index cards. I ask the players to hold the cards that contain their castable spells, and do the same with all NPC spellcasters. This avoids all of the book flipping, and makes spell management as easy as playing cards…
If you want your players to play a character more than wait around for the next combat, reward characters with experience points for role-playing and character development. Develop a house rule table so you are consistent.
Keep the excitement level of the game higher by simply rolling dice behind your DM screen for no reason every once in a while. This accomplishes two things:
First, it puts the element of surprise back into the game as the players will not know whether you’re rolling dice because they’re about to be ambushed or spring a trap or it’s just some other random factor you’re checking.
Second, during the non-combative lulls in your game, it keeps them on their toes and thus less likely to start “side conversations” or other (non-game related) things when they think they don’t need to be paying attention.
In order to establish the means for distributing secret information in the campaign, randomly pass out notes that have random, meaningless statements. This will help conceal the fact when you do give a player some specific information.
Random encounters are good because they keep things unpredictable. Random encounters are bad because a lot of times the random encounter doesn’t make sense. When developing your campaign, take the time to create a custom random encounter table. You never know when that random encounter becomes a campaign hook later.
One of the characters in my game is a dragon shaman (PH 2), and we were always confused as to which Draconic Aura she had going at any one time. We wrote all of her possible Aura’s and their effects on 3×5 cards, and have her place the one that is active face up in front of her. That way at a glance everyone knows which Aura is in effect, and whether it gives the other players any bonuses.
This idea would work for any sort of selectable aura, magic item or spell effects.
Keep a spreadsheet of the experience points you give out for each gaming session, for each character. In most programs you should even be able to set the sheet up to automatically calculate a total. I set it up with a column of player and character names, a total experience point column, and then columns for each gaming session.
By doing this, you always have a master reference of experience points so that there is never any doubt as to whether Billy’s character should be 9th or 10th level. It also acts as a reminder of why Sara’s character hasn’t leveled while everyone else’s has (”well, Sara, you didn’t play during session five, so your character didn’t get any experience that time”).
Once you have such a spreadsheet setup, it takes little work to maintain and can save a lot of headaches and confusion regarding the player’s earned experience.
A great way to liven up your combats, especially in higher level campaigns is to introduce an item that produces random effects (i.e. Wand of Wonder, Deck of Illusions, etc). If your players always feel safe or confident in every combat, then introducing a random event will keep them on their toes as well as you the DM! Even better when you adapt the item personally to throw even more “chaos” in the mix. Players are most times gamblers at heart and if they can get out of a sticky situation using a chance event, then when they are on the edge of their seat they will throw those dice!!
Point is to keep the game lively for both you and the players — everyone likes surprises!!
The comment by Derek B reminded me of using the Wand of Wonder myself; it led to some hilarious “combats” like the one where the villain, about to deliver the Coup de Grace, found himself choking on a butterfly! However that is not the only way to induce a random element, in my biggest Dungeon there were a series of rooms, at least one on every level, all exactly alike, whose contents were a low table holding a chest about 3 feet by 3. This when opened, (the door would lock itself until the chest was investigated) revealed a LOT of semi-random events, ranging from treasure to a 1-per-round stream of Goblins/Skeletons (who got first crack free!), via a bright flash that blinded the chrs for X rounds, 1d8 Ostriches which flew (?) around c***ping on everyone for three rounds, random potions (some good, some bad), Gems, even moderately powerful Magic, usually one-offs like Scrolls etc. I had a deck of cards for those! Cadmus Teeth was one, Wand of Wonder itself another, think of not TOO silly or unpredictable items, and remember they “heterodyne”, reinforce, reduce or affect each other! The Devil is in the Detail, in this case!
A Random Transport System is another source of hilarity, has it taken them up, down or just sideways? In TIME? One of my parties ended up fighting T Rex by using an injudicious Elevator! But, they were in sufficient **** they elected to give it a try. (If they are in too deep,and the dice are unkind, you can help a little!)
Identical areas of the Dungeon are also fun, then leave clue maps leading to one of them, while another is exactly the opposite, what should be treasure is peril, and vice versa! Keep it up and you can have the little blighters quite paranoid!
Ian
Your favorite big bad evil guy could die or be forced to retreat a lot faster than you thought. Making him of a low enough level not to outright slaughter the party might make him too frail to be a challenge. If he’s almost dead after just a few rounds, will the players really think it was worth it? Of course they will, because you’re going to see to it that they do!
Come up with some devious tactics for your nemesis, give them the best descriptions you can come up with, even if they’re not as lethal as you imply. You wouldn’t want your players to get bored, so don’t give them a chance. For instance:
My big bad in a campaign I’m running for a few new players is a vampire cleric, performing various necromantic experiments in his quest for a way to become human once more. After fighting through a dungeon loaded with failed experiments and a vampire spawn second, the party finally confronts the vampire.
Howling in rage, the vampire begins battle by calling for several bat swarms. He then lunges at the nearest player with a wickedly shaped red and black dagger, lets go, and the blade continues to attack the player! On his next move, the vampire creates a blade of teeth and bone, proceeding to punish the other players with it until the bat swarms arrive, nearly filling the room. The vampire quickly turns into a bat, vanishing in the confusion and surviving to continue his experiments.
[...] up is my friend’s Yax recent call for DM tips over on his blog in exchange for a chance to win fis Comp copy of D&D’s Exemplar of Evil. [...]
Avoid taking time out of the game for deciding on what toppings to have on your pizza or which meal to order in. Either circulate a menu before the game or for extra cheese role-play the characters ordering the meal. Just make sure you are out of character before phoning your order in - unless you want your delicious healthy snacks delivered to Eberron Road.
Have the players got you stuck and you need some time think? Instead of having a battle that could lead to death to free up some thinking time, have the party encounter another party of slumbering orcs. Or while in the castle they find a closet. Direct them to dress up like their adversaries and try to infiltrate the camp or castle or whatever. It feels like something well organized and pre-planned, enables you to drop hints, and while the players are giggling and fighting over who wears what you’ll have enough time to rub your eyes and plan the next ‘random’ encounter.
Got a player who wants to play something a little… different? Like a Drow or Half-Orc? Let them play, but make the NPC’s react correctly. Things will be more expensive for them, they won’t be allowed in many areas, and enemies may view them as allies. Let them react to the existing game prejudices. This should force some good role playing.
If you have the equipment to support it, try using different colored die for different portions of the game mechanics. Attacks are blue, magic is red, defense is white, skill checks are yellow, etc.
If a character unexpectedly dies during a play session, one player may be out of the game for a significant amount of time.
Some solutions:
1: Each player brings a spare character with them with everything filled in apart from the stat rolls.
2: The DM keeps a stack of spare characters.
A DM can use these to great effect by capturing all the main characters in session 1. The players then use their spare characters to mount a rescue mission. Once rescued the players can choose which one of their characters they prefer to play.
Schedule an hour of cards or video games or arm wrestling an hour before the dice start rolling to get the wigglies out of everyone.
Utilize the language barrier. If your characters or NPC’s speak different languages, then role play that out. It’s great to misinterpret what someone is trying to say.
If you want your players to hate an NPC, make sure the NPC keeps referring to himself in the third person. It should really irritate your players… Or your players might start referring to themselves in the third person for one whole session which might make your head explode, but it’s unlikely.
I love it when my DM tailors magic items to our party. especially when they go out of their way to make a unique deck of many things. we spent an entire session with ‘what if’s on that deck!
Give your players so many ‘important items’ that their inventory is overloaded. This forces them to really think about ‘loot’ and to stop grabbing for cash.
Most of these ‘important items’ are junk, but the players don’t know that!
When everyone can’t show up, we run the game in bizzaro world. It started out the exact same as the original world but I just made up crap as we went along (the players knew it — great for my improv skills!), havoc was wreaked, and sometimes the players asked for a bizzaro session because it got almost as interesting as the real plot!
With big groups and long fights, it can be really helpful to ditch the initiative order in favor of ‘whoever makes a move first, goes first.’ this really encourages the players to think on their feet (they are in a battle!) and while they are waiting to get in on the action, everyone is more interested in seeing if their action is the best (or should they let the wizard fireball…).
Write stuff down! I still am not very good at this one.
Anytime I use a generator, I copy all the info into my ‘characters’ file, because you never know who the players will want to interact with more: your huge back-history retired old wizard, or “Jim” the cobbler who has 2 peg legs (yay random generation!).
On Dire Weasels.
Never allow an alienist to summon dire weasels.
Summon Monster V casted twice = 4d4+2 pseudonatural(aka true strike) weasels = a possible 10d4 automatic blood drain = DM banishment
I don’t know how many of your npc’s have more than 40 con, but one super dead npc was enough for my DM.
If you have any artistic talent, use it. Even if its a quick sketch I draw all the important npcs, monsters and even the pc’s playing. All the players I’ve done this for love it.
In addition if you are running games in your own setting, which I always do, create the holy symbols and average citizen’s or politicians or other public officials outfits. It’s surprising how much my players responded from a few fashion based details.
Love zombies!, but your pc’s are too powerful for them. :(
Don’t let your pc’s become complacent, just because they know zombies are practically harmless, throw them a curve ball.
The mob rule in the Cityscape book was a god send, make those low CR creatures super awesome without adding character levels or advancing hit die.
The pcs were level 10 and were presented with a lovely horde of zombies. The wizard with an unsettlingly high buffed AC wades carelessy into the fray, only to be mashed to goo and blow his best spells to escape. He learned not to face encounters so recklessly, without becoming paranoid.
I like to start each session with a quiz on the rules, players like to show off their knowledge, get some xp for correct answers and it gets people reading their books, everything runs smoother when people know rules off the top of their head.
Be