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wildmage
Sneak
123 Posts
    
 | | 02/06/2006 7:02 PM |
| For those of you with experience DMing I'm wondering what you typically do to set up the encounters you'll throw at your PCs. Do you primarily use published adventures where all the enounters (except wandering monsters perhaps) are spelled out for you? Do you like to come up with everything yourself- the campaign arc, all the encounters, stating all the NPCs, etc.? Or do you fall somewhere in the middle- establish your own storyline but borrow some encounters from pre-made sources while fleshing out a few on your own too?
As a corollary, what tools do you typically use to stat up NPCs and monsters with class levels or to advance monsters beyond their default MM entry?
Finally, how much time per roleplaying session do you typically spend preparing to set up your masterful adventure? | |
Champion of the Bone Naga
(There's just so much roleplaying to be done with a large skeletal snake!) | |
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jgsugden
Commander
4320 Posts
Walnut Creek, CA
| | 02/06/2006 7:42 PM |
| I write my own. I approach the game from an 'epic storytelling' tact where all of the adventures are related to a few 'storylines' that all tie together, somehow. It takes some practice to figure out how to build these storylines without railroading the PCs too much.
The approach is similar to the one taken in the Babylon 5 TV series, where each episode contained contributed to the story arcs that spanned the 5 year series (The Shadow War, the Earth Civil War, the Telepaths conflict, etc....) A typical D&D game has more in common with the various Star Trek series, where things in one episode/adventure rarely have an effect on future adventures.
I use roughly 50% stock monsters, 35% advanced monsters using the typical advancement rules in the books, and 15% original creations or creatures from obscure books. When I advance a creature, I do it by hand to make sure that the advancement makes sense.
My most recent campaign (that is estimated to run for a total of 320 hours of play in roughly 40 sessions) has involved the following prep time (estimated):
Writing the initial very rough draft of the storylines: 20 hours
Initial fleshing out of important NPCS (~100): 50 hours
Writing semi-detailed outlines for each adventure location and event and putting them all together: 320 hours
Final preparations for each session (the detailed adventure): 2 hours per session (80 total hours)
Revising outlines and doing recordkeeping after each session: 1 hour per session (40 total hours)
So, for an estimated 320 hours of play for each of the players, I'll spend a total of about 510 hours of personal time preparing the sessions.
This method allows me to do 2/3 of the preparation for the campaign before the PCs kill their first kobold. The day after the PCs began adventuring in my current campaign, I began the rough draft for the outlines for my next campaign. | |
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Benimoto
Underboss
1125 Posts
| | 02/06/2006 8:21 PM |
| I come up with the campaign arc and encounters all on my own. I'll use statted-up NPCs if I can find appropriate ones, or I'll just do that myself too.
I don't use any tools to advance the monsters. I feel as though I've gained a lot by working through the stats myself, but I also wouldn't be adverse if there was a good tool.
I like to try to spend 2-4 hours for each 4-5 hour session preparing. I keep a few "hey these guys bust down the door and pick a fight" encounters for when I don't have enough time that week to plan. | |
Champion of the Rakshasa. Check out my Mini Terrain Maker, or my new Dungeon Map Maker (under development). | |
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jacksonm
Warlord
5560 Posts
River City
| | 02/06/2006 8:42 PM |
| I tend to go a little free form as a DM. I set the beginning for the players and introduce adventure hooks. From there I have an end goal or entounter in mind.
What happens from the initial set up and the climax is pretty much up to the players. They have the freedom to tackle the plot in whatever way they choose or completly go off track into something new if they prefer.
As a player I always hated those being led by the nose adventures so as a DM I like to keep things a little loose and play in the moment. | | | |
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yack
Commander
3320 Posts
Gatineau Canada
| | 02/06/2006 9:04 PM |
| I set up the campaign arc, make it like a long story too a certian level in my head. Using my own stuff plus some stuff from Dungeon magazine that I add too the storyline. Once one is done the other is already planed in my head and ready too go.
I spend about 3-6 hours of personal time outside of the game a week.. planing it up and running some of the encounters on a battlemat too see how it could go.
Being a DM is a lot of work,but its way worth it too tell the story and line up the encounters. Plus all the mini we own for it![:D] | |
Champion of the Peryton
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zenthrus
Warlord
5132 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 02/07/2006 3:03 AM |
| At the moment I either run off the top of my head or use pre-pubs and modify them as necessary on the fly. My gaming group is too sporadic at the moment to justify putting in a huge amount of time pre-planning and there's a lot to be said for the flexibility of not pre-planning. I always have a specific plotline/big picture scenario worked out in my head but the individual encounters evolve along the way (usually based on common sense principles and party level).
When I have a steady, committed gaming group...that's another story. I will always write up the overarching plotline and a starter list of plot hooks for subplots. Then I work through the subplots making sure that they both tie into the overarching plotline and still retain a level of fluidity.
The next step is to take generate encounters. I tend to develop two types of encounters: first, specific encounters that are necessary to drive the subplot (or overarching plot); second, random encounters that can be dropped wherever. When considering encounters I look at the estimated party level, monsters that make sense (cave dwellers in caves, forest dwellers in forests, etc), and miniatures on-hand. Then I'll flesh out the encounters allowing for some flexibility in PC level and challenge (if the encounter is far too easy it's nice to have a complicating factor involved). Any encounters that require significant planning (multiple levels, flying monsters/PCs, etc) I'll flesh out in greater detail.
After I have an idea of what encounters I'll use I'll modify monsters as necessary. I rarely do too much to monsters. I often use PC-race, classed villains which take time to custom build.
I then like to step back, look everything over and see if it still seems like a good idea. If so, I will prepare maps and props and develop locational names (towns, cities, etc) and prominent personalities (names of major plot-related NPCs and other major players).
Once all of that is done I'll compile a generic NPC name list, treasure lists, and begin custom painting any key minis I might want (BBEG, Orc tribal leaders, etc). I'll also create a generic world map (for the PCs), a more detailed world map (for me), and start designing any dungeon maps that might be necessary (I'm inclined now to just take DDM maps and modify encounters to fit if possible).
Whew! I think I put too much effort into custom campaigns. Granted, on average a custom built campaign will run for at least a year (usually 1.5 years) and run players from level 1 to between level 15 and 20. I usually put in approximately 300-500 hours of personal time. As to tools used for fleshing out encounters...just my collection of 3.5 books, pen, and paper.
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kestrel.ca
Underboss
1687 Posts
| | 02/07/2006 11:21 AM |
| I create an over-arching plotline and then find/adapt published adventures which can be slotted into fit this. Scouring the internet and Dungeon magazine I have found 200+ adventures (single or multi-session) and usually there's a couple which will fit any particular plot requirement with only minor modification. I've cataloged most of the adventures I've found into a spreadsheet detailing approximate level, terrain/environment, type (quest/rescue/etc), and major villain(s). This helps to quickly refine my search.
By using the published adventures, I don't have to spend a lot of time creating everything (which is good as I don't have a lot extra) but can still run a reasonably detailed campaign. | |
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stonefro2000
Sergeant
465 Posts
| | 02/07/2006 5:31 PM |
| i have to do a lot of "free style" DM'ing. (the players have a nack for takeing that hrad dirve to left field) so the majority of my campaingn is directly player created. I just dont tell them that. what i try to do is if i have a few minutes I'll make up some npc's or monsters, so when the players go off in a random direction i've got something to throw at them, and try to think of a way or situation that would be logical to introduce them.
Ie: rather than going to the dungon the PC's decied to go fishing. (yes this really happened) Luckily i had been inspired to do a adventure based lossly on the moive "jaws". it wasn't complet but i had enough to do a qucik and dirty session. it maniy cossisted of the PC's trying to fight off a meglodon "MM2" but it is still one of our most tlaked about adventures. | |
"Well maybe Mr. T hacked the game and created a Mohawk class! Maybe Mr. T is handy with computers! Had that ever occurred to you Mr. condescending Director!" | |
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