Thursday, January 31, 2013

Building the World

Today I'd like to start on the topic of building a world. Your players need a place to play and it's up to you as the DM to give it to them.

First and foremost to this topic:

Do I use a pre-made world or make my own?

The answer to this will vary between DMs and even from the same DM depending on where they are in their "career" as a DM. Personally, the first adventure I ever DMed in Dungeons and Dragons was a pre-published adventure, after stumbling a bit through running someone else's adventure, I decided to build my own world to play in from then on. 

Some DMs prefer to use one of the pre-made worlds associated with the game itself (things like Eberron or Forgotten Realms for Dungeons and Dragons). Personally, I truly enjoy creating my own world to play in for a couple of reasons:

1.) I can create my own style, architecture, culture, geography...

I like the freedom to create my own world with it's own features. I don't have to remember the history or geography of a world that has already been created by someone else. The freedom to say "I really want my PCs to visit an island where everyone dresses and acts like they did Ancient Rome" and make that happen. The style, feel and look of the world is what I want it to be, instead of what someone else says it should be. I would much rather use things I like from the worlds others have made than to use the whole world just as it is. 

2.) My players can have a part in building the world as well

I enjoy the fact that when I create a world, my players can have a part in shaping that world. The world I'm currently using has had some of the areas fleshed out, but much of the world remains "unexplored" at least as far as the players are concerned. This allows them the freedom to decide where they're from, and flesh it out as much as they wish, without it clashing with what already exists there.

3.) I enjoy the act of world building itself

I really enjoy building worlds. I love being able to give it those little quirks that people will notice and enjoy, or to make it seem like a real place that someone might actually want to visit. I like telling stories, and I love creating a world to tell those stories in.


There are, however, some downsides to creating your own world:

1.) It's a lot of work

I've put a lot of time into the world I made, and I continue to put even more time into it. If the PCs decide to go off in a new direction that I didn't expect, I need to have something there, it can't just be a blank spot on the map... (or can it - time to explore!). If this happens in the middle of a session, you will need to think on your feet and create things on the fly, this takes a bit of experience and some preparation. You should ideally have a few things such as towns, cities, NPCs and the like sitting in reserve for a situation like this. Creating all these things takes time. You will spend a lot of time creating maps of places, as well as coming up with people to populate those places. If you want your world to feel real, those people need to have personalities and character. 

2.) You need a system to remember what you created

You need to make sure you have some system to remember what you have created. If you have to suddenly throw together a town on the fly, or create an NPC and give them a personality, you're going to want to remember that for the next time the PCs meet that same character. Some DMs take insane amounts of notes and leaf through papers when necessary... others use programs or technology to help them keep track of it...

Personally, I use a combination of both. I do use my laptop in preparing and keeping notes straight, but a lot of times when I am at the table I will take notes on a pad of paper and transfer them over later.

Box and Dropbox (or other similar programs) can be a good way to share information with your players. I have all my players as collaborators in a folder on my box account, and I can post information there for them to see, as well as have them post information like character sheets and backstories there for me as well. 

Also, Onenote (part of MS office) is a good app for DMs as well, I really like using that to build a campaign, and it can be used at the table to take notes pretty efficiently as well...


So I want to build the world, where do I start?

Come up with the overall idea for your world:

There are a couple of different schools of thought on this, but I'll give my suggestion. I recommend starting with the concept. Decide what you want your world to be like. Do you want to have one or two large landmasses with areas of the landmass that each have their own distinct features (similar to how it's handled in George RR Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series). Would you prefer to have a ton of small islands and each have their own culture/style? 

From here, decide what kinds of quirks your world might have. We'll use GRRM's ASOIAF series as the example here as well, in his world, summers and winters last years instead of merely months. What gimmick will you use?

The world I made had the distinction of having multiple continents, each with their own "style". So there is an island that is mainly dragons and dragonborn types, one that is mostly undead and "evil" things, one that is an Empire based on Ancient Roman/Greek style, one that is all desert, one that is a frozen tundra. They started this way, but the cultures/styles have bled into each other. For example the Empire (Ancient Roman/Greek style island) began an invasion into the "main" island, which was themed as a "generic" Dungeons and Dragons world (medieval fantasy), so those styles kind of bled into each other.

Some other things I would consider important here are things like "how old is this world?" Are the PCs exploring a continent that was just recently discovered or does the culture have a history spanning eons? You don't necessarily have to flesh these things out completely, but you want to have some idea where this world "came from".

One you have this idea...

Start Small:

This sounds like it runs directly counter to the first point, but it's not. You want to know the overall idea of the world, but as far as fleshing out the details, keep it to things your players will likely experience. You want to have a backup of some places in case they go off where you don't expect, but if they won't likely see the far north for a few sessions, there's no reason to fully flesh it out yet. 

Focus on fleshing out the nearby cities/towns/dungeons/NPCs/etc. of the things they will likely be exploring right away. (This seems like common sense, but you'd be amazed how many DMs are just overwhelmed by the enormity of creating a world, but when you break it down it's not that difficult at all)


In later sessions, we will cover creating things like towns, cities and NPCs to fill this world with.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Books:

I read a LOT of fantasy books, as well as things from multiple other genres. Some of my favorites, where I've gotten my inspiration:

A Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R. Martin (be warned, you will likely get hooked... and the series isn't finished yet... and the most recent book - A Dance with Dragons - took over 10 years from when the one before it was released)
The Sword of Truth Series - Terry Goodkind (link is to the first book - Wizard's First Rule)
The Belgariad - David Eddings (Link is to first book)

There are tons of others, but those are the big ones. I also get some from movies and from forums such as Reddit and the Wizards Community Forums.

There are some other great resources to use, here are a few of those:


Quick note on this book - it's AMAZING. It really helps you to make worlds that feel real and that people would want to visit or live in. Check this out ASAP!

That's all for today

Until next time, 

Your Humble DM,
-Zach








Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Becoming a DM/GM (part 2)

Welcome to part 2 of my "Becoming a DM/GM" ongoing series. In this part we will look at some of the preparation necessary before you even start your first game as a DM. This will differ based on a couple of things, but there are some things that all brand new DMs need to do to prepare.

Learn the Basic Rules:

This seems like a no-brainer, but it's an important step many people don't think about. I'm not saying you have to know every rule or that you will understand exactly how they all work but you should have a solid grasp of the basic rules. How do skill checks work? What kinds of things should be what kinds of skill checks? How do the basics of combat work? 

You will have some reading to do. I wouldn't recommend necessarily reading the Player's Handbook (PHB) and the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) from cover to cover, they aren't (at least in my opinion) made that way. There are a few chapters you will want to read for sure though.

In the PHB: 

You'll want to read (at minimum) the sections on Character Building and Combat. You can read through all the feats/classes/races/etc if you like, but I prefer to use them more as reference, if you're not familiar with the races and classes available, I would at least recommend reading the small overviews on each race/class.

For the most part, the only section you really NEED in here is the combat section, however reading the character creation sections will allow you to help your players create their characters if they need help, or rule on any rules/what's allowed questions they might have while creating their characters.

In the DMG: 

I won't necessarily recommend reading this cover to cover, but you will probably want to cover all the information here at some point. I would recommend getting at least the basics like the chapters on combat and skill challenges.

The chapters on building an encounter and the DM's toolbox are not quite as necessary if you're using only pre-published adventures, but are a great help if you want to create your own adventures and stories. The section on experience and rewards is good as well. 

Rules Compendium:

If you do decide to subscribe to DnD insider, there is a rules compendium included with it that has every rule for the game. It's a great resource for when you need to look something up quickly and I recommend it.

A Couple of Notes About "The Rules"

“The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.” -Gary Gygax

This really illustrates how many DMs feel about the rules. There could be a rulebook thousands of pages long and it still would not be able to cover every situation that might arise in a game and they shouldn't have to. This is part of your job as DM, being able to think on your feet.

You will invariably have a player want to use a skill in a way you never imagined. 

One "rule" that is tossed around when it comes to being a DM is to "always say 'yes' ". This is often misconstrued though. The idea behind this is that you don't want to shoot down a player's good idea. If your player says "can I do this?" instead of saying "no" a better answer is "you can try". Saying yes doesn't mean that the action will succeed, only that the player can attempt it. Perhaps that action will have a ridiculously high DC or perhaps it will have some added measure of danger should the player fail, that doesn't stop them from attempting it.

House Rules:

Since we're talking about learning the rules, this seems to be a good place to touch on the subject of house rules. 
Everyone uses them. I have never run with a single group that plays the game exactly as it is written, every group has their own little rules that they come up with while they play, or that they've used before and like. 

For example, my group really liked the auto-success/auto-fail when rolling a 20 or a 1 (respectively) on a skill check, as well as the idea of a botch in combat. (rolling a natural 1 is was called a "botch")

Some people don't like the idea of a natural 20 being a success on any skill check, personally I think this is fine as long as you balance it so people aren't going to constantly try outrageous and ridiculous actions just because "I might roll a 20". This is easily done. In our group, usually the more outrageous or crazy an action, the worse the penalty for failure. 

ex. "Oh, you tried to sneak past a group of goblins in broad daylight? Well you failed, you get out into the open and are in the midst of the group before you realize that they've seen you. They all get a surprise round before you get to act... roll initiative"

Is this a little mean? Yes, but it will ensure that players won't try outlandish things just because "I might roll a 20 and succeed"

There are a few important things to remember when modifying the rules or ruling on a situation.


1.) BE CONSISTENT

I cannot stress this point enough. Be fair and consistent in your rulings. Did you rule that the heroes have to make a DC 20 Athletics check to climb the tree? Then the goblins coming after them have to do so as well... 

No one wants to play a game where the rules are constantly changing on the DMs whim. Imagine playing something like Mario with your older brother or sister (yep, that means you're stuck as Luigi, deal with it). While you watch your sibling play, every time they press the A button, their character jumps and they're having a pretty good go of it. Then comes your turn to play, but you find that when you press the A button, your character only jumps 1/2 the time, or not at all. You're really not going to have much of a chance of keeping up are you?
The point here is that changing the rules is fine and encouraged, but make sure you are being fair about it. Personally, I'm always of the mind that story trumps rules. I would much rather tell a compelling story that my players enjoy and are interested in than to have the game devolve into a hack and slash or a hours-long sessions of people trying to figure out and argue over rules.

During the game, I try to limit the looking up of rules. When you are first starting out, you will have to look them up, one of the best ways to handle this is to assign someone to look them up for you when the situation arises. Once you are more familiar with the rules and more comfortable as a DM, you can forego looking them up and just make the decision on the spot. The caveat to this is that you make sure you notate your decision so you can either address it later (by looking up the rules) or so that you can continue to rule that way in the future. 

2.) Be Fair

One thing that new DMs (and some much more experienced DMs even) seem to forget, or never learn, is that it's not you vs. the players. You are working with the players to create a good story. Your job is not to kill the players... 
Let me quote Gygax again...
“The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own.” 

There is really no situation where you should be actively trying to kill your player characters. Yes, you do control the monsters, but you should not be focusing on killing your characters. Respond the way you think the monsters would to the situation and let the dice fall as they may.

Your players, when left to their own devices, will come up with new and creative ways to get their characters killed, much more interesting than anything you could have planned... trust me.

3.) "Fudging" rolls

I wasn't entirely sure where to put this, but a rules discussion seems to be just as good as anywhere else. This is another situation that will garner split answers depending on the DM you ask. Some DMs (Chris Perkins of WotC falls into this category) fall into the "let the dice fall as they may" category. Others advocate for "fudging" rolls to save their players or even a quest-important NPC.

Personally, I don't fudge a die roll to save a player from something stupid they chose to do, however I have been knowing to "tune" an encounter mid encounter. This is a talent that is particularly useful for a new DM, or for one who is brand new to a system. If you are building your own encounters/adventures, there always runs the risk that you will design an encounter that is much harder than you originally thought. Perhaps you didn't really realize that the monsters abilities have a ton of synergy and the heroes are getting wrecked by something the shouldn't be. Adjusting these kinds encounters on the fly is an important skill  There are multiple ways to do this, and they can depend on how transparent you choose to be with your players.

If you are putting things like defenses and HP on a whiteboard for them to see, it's much harder to fudge things in the midst of combat. If you are keep track of it somewhere the players can't see, you can fudge it, but they may start to wonder why "I missed on a 20 vs AC last time, but Jim the Barbarian just hit on a 19 vs AC." 

One of the best ways I've found is to leave Defenses where the players can see them (to make turn taking easier/faster) and keep the HP yourself. This allows you to do things like change a monster to a minion (1-hit kill) on the fly or even just reduce the number of HP before something is dead.

I feel that a crucial part of fudging rolls to save players is to make sure they are not aware you saved them. You don't want you players getting into the mindset of "I can try this because if I fail the DM won't let me die."

The DM Screen:

To finish off, I'll throw in a post about the DM screen. I use one (actually borrowing one currently) of the official Wizards 4e DM Screens. I've seen people who use everything from a piece of cardboard with post-it notes to a handmade screen complete with artwork of their own and the information they want themselves. 

The official one is excellent, and I would recommend it to a new DM just starting, it has all kinds of great references on it and will generally save you a TON of time when you're just starting.

Finally - some links to items I enjoy and would heartily recommend to any new DM:


That's all for this installment... Next time look for us to cover pre-made adventures vs. making your own and some tips on adventure building.

Until next time,
-Zach



Sunday, January 27, 2013

Becoming a DM/GM (part 1)

This is going to be part one of an ongoing series I'd like to start up. The idea will be to give new DMs a place to look for all those questions that come up with you realize that you are going to be in charge and don't want to "ruin" it for everyone else.

I spend a lot of time browsing the Wizards Community Forums, the Giant in the Playground Forums and the Dungeons and Dragons Subreddits. There are frequent posts on those websites about the same topic. "I'm a brand new DM and I don't know where to start/what to do, help!" The goal of this segment will be to give those DMs a place to start and hopefully to teach a couple of tricks to even the experienced DMs out there.

So, first things first... 

What do I need?

A group (duh)

Normal group size is 4-6 players (not including the DM). For a new DM I recommend sticking to the lower end of this, but getting to 6 still isn't unmanageable. Any more than 6 and I would strongly advise towards splitting into two groups. When the group gets too large, it gets very difficult to get into roleplaying (too many people trying to talk at once and usually too much disagreement on what to do). It also will get very bogged down in combat. Combat can take a little while to begin with if people are new (and also if the DM is new) but with a large group it will take forever and it will be BORING to anyone who's not currently acting. 

Going smaller is definitely viable, and I've heard of DMs running groups as small as juts 1 player and the DM, or 2-3 players. This can be done if you want to either add NPCs (non-player characters) to round out the group or if you want to build the campaign around have a smaller (and usually less balanced) group. 

The other options for coping with a smaller group are generally not liked by most groups/DMs. These are: Running a DMPC (Dungeon Master Player Character). I recently posted a couple of threads on reddit discussing this and there have been plenty of them before. The feelings on this idea are mixed, and I'll likely cover this issue in a separate post (it's a big issue with a lot of differing opinions). The general wisdom here is that you have enough going on as a DM (especially as a new DM) that managing an entire character is going to significantly slow down the game and make your life much more difficult. The other problem that many people run into with DMs running their own player characters is the DM giving preference to those characters or having them take the spotlight from the heroes. Both of these are possible to avoid, but it's difficult. 

Another option is having players run more than one character themselves. This is not a popular option for a couple of reasons, one of the most important is that it makes it really difficult to get into roleplaying. It's much harder for the players to keep multiple different characters personalities and knowledge separate.

"Supplies"

Here are some of my recommendations for what you will want to run a 4e game:

Books:

Player's Handbook (PHB)
Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG)
Monster Manual (MM)

These books are all you actually need to get the game up and running. You can actually get away with one copy of each, but having multiple PHBs can come in handy. Only the DM needs a copy of the DMG and MM. Additional supplements are great, but you can run a game just fine with only what's here.
Also, the Dungeons and Dragons Insider subscription is a wonderful thing. I love the monster building tool and the character builder makes creating characters a breeze, it's worth trying out if you are running 4e, and while it is $10 a month, if you can get your group to split it, it can be a measly $2 a month each for a 5 man group. 

Dice:

I haven't had to buy dice in a long time, they are an investment that will last you a long time if you take care not to lose them. The "Pound o' Dice" from Chessex is a great choice, it's random what you get, but you will definitely get everything you need to run a game. It's not too expensive and will give you everything you need (and should be plenty for a whole group if you can get the group to split the cost).

Maps and Miniatures:

There's a few things here that are pretty good options. The GameMastery Battlemap is really good. It's reversible and you can use wet-erase markers on it. Another option I've used is a easel pad with 1" grid and some markers as well but this one can get a bit more expensive. I've also used things like a roll up chess board and chess pieces and just about anything else you can imagine. 

For minis there are a great number of options. My group has used everything from actual miniatures (this can get very expensive) to re-based Mage Knight figures to things like our favorite beer bottle caps... 1" round wooden discs (can be found at most craft supply stores) are really good, and can be written on with a pencil and erased, making them very reusable. Also, the monster vault comes with a ton of discs that can be used for monsters, this is a great option as well, and not anywhere near as expensive as miniatures are.

 Misc.:

I would recommend a good supply of pencils and paper for players to take notes. For the DM, a pad of regular graph paper can come in very handy for creating maps of dungeons/cities/etc. 
Technology can be quite helpful here as well. Some people have strong opinions of "virtual" dice rollers, there are apps that can be found on every major tablet operating system... Personally, as long as people are being honest about the dice rolls, I don't care so much if they're physical dice or virtual. I've used both and the virtual programs can be great if you want to play but don't necessarily have the space to actually roll dice.

Some other virtual programs can help with things like keeping track of initiative and statuses on combat.

For this, I personally used a large white board. On it I would write the initiative order with a magnet to mark whose turn it is currently. I also was able to list off the monsters and note any important info/status effects on the board where everyone could see it. For some of the groups I've run, I've listed the defenses of the monsters on the white board next to their name, allowing combat to move a little faster. The player could have already decided their turn and could usually roll to hit and damage very quickly without having to constantly ask "do I hit". For some DMs they feel this is giving the players too much info, personally I don't have a problem with it, but it's really a preference thing. 


We'll end here for now as this gives a good idea what you want to collect together when preparing to DM for the first time. Keep an eye out for more posts as there is much more info to come!

Did I miss something that you use all the time? Something you think every group should have? Comment below and point it out!

Until next time, 

Your Humble DM,
-Zach 

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Campaign - Week 1

As an aside to this post, we started with Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition, but are deciding to change over to 4th edition as we are finding we prefer it (most of the group is much more familiar with 4th, and I have a great deal more experience DMing 4th edition)


The week started with some brief introductions, which I was planning to post here, but I'm going to hold off until after the next session so I don't have to go back and retcon any characters that people choose to change (with the update to 4e)

The basic story (trying to be a little vague here on the characters themselves - see above)

The characters are recruited by "The Iron Merchants" a mercenary/adventuring company located on the island of Ungor, in the port city of Arafa.

They were asked to head to a small town named Ebana, located to the north of Arafa. The town is having a problem with people disappearing in the woods outside the walls of the town. They have been closing the gates at dusk every day and not allowing people to leave while it's dark out, but they're still losing people. The PCs are being dispatched on behalf of TIM to deal with the problem however they deem necessary.

The group sets off after being outfitted with mounts and provisions by the company. The ride to Ebana is a couple of hours at most and they decide to speak to the guard at the gates about the problem. He explains that people have been going missing. Upon further search in the city, they find out that the last group of five people (3 travelers and 2 soldiers) that left the city did so approximately a day and a half ago and has not been heard from since shortly after. The heroes are able to determine that they left through the eastern gate of Ebana, which is the path most often taken, it leads to the main path through the island, which is the best way to reach the other cities and towns on the Ungor.

They set out and find a small path into the dense underbrush leading to a small clearing. In the clearing, they find a hastily abandoned camp. While searching the camp, they are set upon by four human zombies, all dressed in the manner of the villagers or soldiers of Ebana.

They defeat the zombies and bring one of their heads back to Ebana for identification. They verify that he was from the town but they are pretty sure something else is taking the people in the woods and turning them into zombies.

We stopped here, with them resting inside the town for the night and planning to head out the next morning to investigate the woods further.

Not a lot extra to tell here. This campaign I really kind of threw the group together instead of having them all meet each other and work that out themselves.

Some DMs seem to prefer one method or the other, personally I think it depends on the group and the story itself. In the case of this story, the way they met seemed to be a better way to bring the group together.

That's about all for this session, not sure yet what the post from the DM tips and tricks front will be about, but it'll be something relevant and interesting...

Hope everyone is enjoying so far and keep tuning in for more!

Your Humble DM,

-Zach

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Greetings all and welcome to "The DM's Journey"!

This blog will be an ongoing record of the DM campaign I'm running with some friends. When we play, funny things happen and we'd love for others to be able to share in the fun.

We will be playing 3.5 edition of Dungeons and Dragons, with some of our own house rules thrown in of course. The world we're playing in is a homebrewed world. I've used it twice before for campaigns, and I'm taking the same physical world and advancing it ahead a couple hundred years to come to our current setting.

The world consists of multiple continents. The main continent used to be one kingdom named Cenala, ruled by a king. Its style was that of the "standard" Dungeons and Dragons (medieval fantasy). There was a slightly smaller island named Lak'damia. It was home to the Imperial Legion. It was an empire run by a man named Jaren. He united his empire under the mantra of the hatred of magic and all things magical, claiming them to be evil and an abomination against his "one true God".

He took over Cenala, working to eradicate anything magical within.

The very large continent to the north is a frozen tundra. Few can survive there. It was inhabited by a group of tribes. These tribes were eventually united under one leader named Rivek Bearclaw and his sister Rina. The previous party of adventurers (PCs) went through trials and were accepted as part of this Northern tribe (some were already part of it, but were exiled for various reasons). They set out, along with Rina Bearclaw, to meet with the tribes of the southern continent in an attempt to get them to join a growing rebellion against Jaren and the Imperial Legion.

The shaman in the group fell in love with Rina, as they had been together growing up as girls in the same tribe.

The southern tribes were nomadic, rarely coming anywhere near a city. The bulk of the southern continent is desert and the tribes would move from oasis to oasis. The PCs set off to find these tribes. Not much is known about what happened to this group. Many believed that they died on the sands, never having found the southern tribes. Some believe they died in combat, others think perhaps they went to another plane and just haven't returned yet.

The tribes were never able to join forces, and while they did try to rebel separately, they were easily crushed by the might of the Legion. Jaren ruled much of the known world for many years. It was a brutal time. Many of the magical beings became refugees and sought out life on some of the smaller islands or in remote places. Many of them moved to the island of Ungor, where even the Imperial Legion feared to tread. The island was well known for being inhabited by all manner of undead and evil things. The people on the island now live in heavily fortified cities to try and keep them safe from the undead and other evils of the island.

Jaren eventually died, no one really knows how he died, but when he did he had no heir and the empire crumbled. The lands were split up among many "kings" and "lords" who now hold petty squabbles over these lands. There are constant fights and wars among these different "nations".

The current campaign will be starting on Ungor, in the city of Arafa.

They are being called to meet with Kotan, the founder and leader of a group called "The Iron Merchants" a mercenary/adventuring group.


I'm going to attempt to keep this blog updated (we're planning to play every other week or so) as best I can... On the off weeks I'm hoping to make posts about the world of being a DM, perhaps some tricks and tips and really anything else I find interesting in the world of Dungeons and Dragons.

I'll also happily post any information requested (at least that I have) on the world I've created, in case people would like to use it for themselves (even if as just a base).

Thanks for reading!

Your Humble DM,
-Zach