gamegrene.com

Im down, Ill be here with you during your quest to better be the best.

My disclaimer- Im an old fart whos grown up playing since the first box sets...I have no care for your rules system, but most DM tricks n tips dont even take rules into consideration- its more style and flair. I always happy to talk shop, and if it helps anyone be a better DM, even in the smallest way, its worth all the energy.

Ill also enjoy and get worth out of your posts detailing your adventure in creating adventure for your adventurers....whoa.

Yes, you gotta always remember to pay attention to the parts of the world that you are not always showing your players. Make effort to allow some sort of story to be happening everywhere the players are not traveling. No need to write a side novel, just small things.

Like what OT said above, a fued between to local lords over some dumb matter like land or cattle, perhaps the dwarves to the west are celibrating a year long holiday where they are not fighting this year...or there just might be a hostile group gaining new power to the south that grows each passing game that the players dont explore it...

An understanding that your world is not just a tv screen that shows direct action to the players as they come to it, but a real 3d world where even if they NEVER travel to the land across the ocean, that land still has a story that evolves along side the timeline of your game, with or without the players attention...

and yes, this sort of thing almost always leads to a landslide of open side-adventures to later explore when short on ideas for next adventures.

NOW FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE I HAVE TO GIVE ON THIS SUBJECT!!!
(IMHFO)
The most imortant thing I think I ever learned about GMing is (im VERY serious), is that really REALLY good DMs seem to love the art of DMing, and the rest fall into a catogory filled with GMs who rather play as a player and are only running a game cus no one else wants to.

The best DMs Ive had the honor of learning from, or playing with, always agreed with me on the thought that "DMing kicks the crap outta being a PC, anyday, hands down). Alot of DMs here are prolly saying "that stupid prick! hes saying stuff that i personally think is dead wrong, again)...but guess what, those are people who seriously want to be PCs more the GMs...now picture the guys who think

"Sif, your so right...GMing is where its at."

Those guys love the craft, they prolly do a great job (or good enough job that they stay interested in GMing- no doubt due to a group of players loving his craft). Love being a GM, its not a dirty deed, or a crappy job..its the best thing about dungeons n dragons (or any RPG), and its the main reason I have spent my life playing table top games.

You need to be a control freek, but not a monster. You need to scare your players but allow them a warm DM to come to when they are in need of a DM worth his salt. You need to appear in charge, and not spinless, but never be an iron fisted nazi over the entire gig.

Its a great job.

Rich's favourite two DM secrets:

The blank hook: D&D is a creative adventure and sometimes the players can be more imaginative the the DM (Gasp!). I love to drop blank clues to which I have absolutely no idea what their relevance is ... yet.
A good blank hook piques the imaginations of the players and gets them going. For instance -- three people in the same town all have a similar scar on their right arm that they hide and won't talk about; Small figurines of animals are found in various locations; a Paladin character gets a strange sense of evil from a horseshoe but nothing else supports that conclusion. Those that resonate with them can be followed up on and lead to adventures. Players will begin to fill in the story for you and investigate in some odd places.
Inaction is the enemy of the DM and a hook, even a blank one, can precipitate action. Make sure that not all your hooks are blank, and remember that you can tie the hook to the plot much later and make it seem like your pre-planning is greater than it is. You can't ever be caught with a blank hook. Let them discover it and don't offer any explanation -- you don't need one. Don't ever use a blank hook as a riddle or something that is tied to the immediate action. They belong solely as flavour.

The treasure Pile: Plan your treasure. A lot of novice DM's use the treasure pile as a reward -- avoid this. I had been playing with the current group for six years before they got their first magic item. Use the treasure pile to lead to the next adventures. Treasure should have a story. A good story always gives the reader what they want, but does it in an unexpected way. Treasure is often stolen from other people and places, and something that may be a trinket to the PC's is immensely valuable elsewhere. The next part of the story lies in the elsewhere. Include letters in the treasure pile from some far off king pleading to have a glass key returned. Include the glass key in the treasure pile. In order to cash in on the treasure they have to find either the King -- or whatever it is that the key will open.
Twist on treasure from my campaign: Dragons sit on treasure because they take energy from magic. They don't know what is magic so they sit on valuable items (they are likely to be magic). After many years the dragon draws the magic out of the treasure and becomes more powerful, or magical, themselves. Young Dragons haven't acquire much treasure yet -- old dragons have absored the magic from their piles. The players will pull out their hair over that connundrum.

Something else I was going to add. Don't let ordinary people become unimportant, just because their stats and abilities seem unexciting. Your player characters should be heroes because they are set against a background of a more mundane existence. If your campaign is a quasi-medieval setting then most of the populace should be peasants and labourers, or maybe yeoman farmers and small land-holders. Don't allow your players to fall into the trap of thinking that these people don't matter. Every one of them has a unique personality and an interesting story to tell, and they care about their own lives and the lives of their families. Try to make sure that the players care too.

If your players want to play evil characters, and you decide to allow this (not every GM does), then make sure they (the players) are fully aware of the extent of the evils of their characters if they decide to go around taking the lives of innocents. Don't let them fall into the trap of thinking, 'They're only 3hp peasants, they don't matter'.

And while you're doing all that, could you stick a broom up your arse and sweep the floor as well?

;-)

Easy way to get some areas up and running soon as possible:

Making a random list for 5-10 local or semi-local places will make things seem more expansive and large to your PCs. The lists dont have to be complex or that fancey...just SOMETHING, anything to show that if your players choose to go west when you wanted then to go east, that they dont just hit an invisible boarder cutting off the rest of the world with a video-game-esk barrier.

What I do takes me about 1 hour oer list, sometimes longer or shorter depending on what the area's complexity and danger level is. Heres a quick one I just made for you to look at...its not one of my realm realm, but if I print it, it just might be soon.

First I take 4-20 pages and number them at the top of the page. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-ect. These are my head page numbers. I usually use a maximum of 6 when dealing with tamer lands such as these I am making now.

Now on each page, I number down the left side of the page usually no higher then 4-to-6) Ill be using a maximum of 4 just for speed's sake, but you can make as many sub-numbers on each page as you feel fit as long as it can be rolled on a single die.

Filling in the pages.
I usually save page "1" for the real bad stuff, and the last page for the good stuff players want to find or meet.

Page-1
1- 2d20 orks. These orks are crude type and carry no metal. they lack any real civilization and are simple wanders from the south mountains. the tribe has enough copper to be considered wealthy to the southern crude civilizations (1d10 cp each) and 1d6 of them are using stolen short swords taken from murdered humans.

The orcs will not allow themselvs to die at any cost. they fear death but enjoy cuasing it. They are not morally above rape, murder, etc- and they enjoy easy prey over a hard battle any day.
The leader's name is ROT-FOOT.
Random names of others- Sthang-ugh, Fhogus, spittz, blemmic, qwog. (i always note a handful of names to use incase these npcs somhow become important, or if the players start asking names...you dont ever want the players to see you think...if you have 2-5 names ready and spit them out in a heartbeat, they think you have a name for everything in the world)

2-A lone oger. His eyes are two colors, one blue one brown. He is a local crude and very uncivil. talking to the oger cuases the player to roll vs CHR to see if the oger attacks on first word (the player must roll under his own stat to calm the oger into parlay).

The oger uses a club carvewd from a branch, and has a bag of halfling heads (this also means if a ranger follows his tracks you can find the dead halflings, so note what they have)

the oger's name is Grendall Skullstomper (a real NPC in my game that has become famous due to player interaction), and he is quite found of humor and violence...but above all money.

if the players seem easy to inslave, he will force the party to fight along side him agaisnt all other crude on this random list in attempts to get all the swords, copper and armor of the area in his own possession and sell it in crude city. If the players fight, he will fight too, if they do not- the oger will try to inslave them and travel with them hunting orks, and other types of crude on this list...(this really did happen actually, the oger made the entire party clear the list of all crude, took the sheilds, swords n coin, and then simply left the party...

3- 1-4 elves. Names: Salliliqwuee, Saytar, Amrah'li'thnya, Ahloombulay...

These elves are seen as police by the elven and woodland people. They usually watch, invisibly from the woods, and rarly interact with those who are not fey... They have bows, short swords, 1d4 healing pointions each (made with local good plants) and one bottle of elven wine between them all.

sal- NG, always in debate with himself. the philospoher. never takes action, always debates the two sides of the coin instead.

saytar- CG, a rable rouser. he enjoys combat and sword play, and tends to provoke the stupid evils of the land into action so he can deal with them with his weapons. he dresses in black and finds crude hunting to be a sort of sport. he is honored as one of the best elven cops in the forest for his long record of success (cop in elf=Ormayus)

Amrah- CG- Fine soul, very close to the good gods with her morals and actions. She usually tries to talk to minor evils to try and guide them to alignment change over killing them outright. She travels only with a dagger and bow...nothing more. She is a tom boyish elf with a flat chest and dreds, but her eyes seem to define wisdom.

Ahloom- LG, by the law and by the book, Ahloombulay is a cop as well and he protects and governs the area as the highest ranking elven law offical this far from the kingdom. He will almost always never be seen and chooses to watch the party from afar if they are being criminal in any way.

All elvs are first lev fighters, and they all have the ability to chase away game, and move invisibly in the trees as long as they move silently and use cuation not to be noticed.

4-Good plant. A bush containing 1d10 berries that heal one point of damage per berry eaten. Any with herbalism can turn three berries to a healing potion if given the time.

Page 2
1- A cockatrice.
Party meets 1 cocktrice, but there is a maximum of 6 in the woods. Each one killed or removed should be removed from the maximum. if the six finally are removed, this slot is reduced to treasure- rewarding the party 1d10 gold in fallen money when rolled.

2-wolves. A local pack of wolves runs in these woods. The elves protect them as natrual creatures of the woods, and the wolves are natrual animals. (wolves rule, and are dangerous)

the pack is 8 wolves, but the party only meets 2d4 at any time. Killing the main wolf (random one, you pick it) the pack will be lost for a leader and leave the woods perminitly...or for 1d4 games.

3-Rain. Heavey. All tracking ability is reduced by -4, surprise gets +3, water can be refilled, and hearing is greatly reduced. (in winter this can be snow)

4- Crude trap 1d6, trap can be any type you wish. i usually keep in mind who makes them. ork trap, vines and sharp wood.

trap attacks with a thaco of 19, and deals damage only to one random player if attack succeeds.

Page-3

1- Humans. 1d4 human rangers. Names: Tharkus, Rob Baker, Tween, and Colby Cotterodd.

These rangers are out here hunting for a living. They are good and have what ever skills a ranger would have for such work. they are armed with bows and short swords, a dagger each and all carry 1d4 good berries in their pockets.
They all live close together and hunt every day to sapport their wives and children. They have info on the location of any crude in this l;ist (cus they see them but dont get involved) and they also can offer you direction to anything else on this list that a ranger might know of. they are all good and you might want to note any quirks of any individual one you want...

The rangers also have access to a place they located a few summers ago- a cave that leads deep into the waterfall-wall and seems to be man made...who ever carved somthing this far out here, into a mountain side, must have a reason...we didnt go down there cus there was moaning and screaming from its depths...we fear it.

(make a small map, zombies , sumthing! this is a side plot, the party just found it)

2- Bugbears, max of 6 (1d6) leader's name is Stank. (random names- Chugmuck, Swiggneck, Faygofuss, Pogsnot.

These Bugbears have metal (stolen) armor, chain, and short swords stolen from merchents they recently killed (perhaps you heard of it, or perhaps you will when your in town). These bugbears are pissed at the orcs now invaiding the area from the south...stupid orcs.

They plan to kill them, and are not in the mood for smalll talk. A CHR roll vs them attacking is needed sinc ethey are very uncivil and crude.

Merchent stuff stolen. 1d20 silver, 1d6 gold, 1d20 copper. 1d20 swords, furrs, tobbacco, and 1d10 chainmail. this is a small fortune to a race that buys n sells things with rocks, teeth and fingers...

3- A wandering dog. Its a home-breed used for hunting and house guarding. The dog can be tamed and owned by anyone with animal handling or ranger class. the dog can be named by the players. If no one is able to tame the dog, it will run away...(this dog may sumday be the party's pet)

4- Bugbear trap- 1d4+1- set for orcs and rangers. the traps are limited to 10 traps in the area. mark one off each time. All traps are reset in one week, and each trap is checked for victims by the bugbears once a week...if the party waits around they will find bugbears.

the trap is a vine/stick design and damages a max of one player. trap thaco is 19.

Page-4

1- Fairies. The party is jumped by crazy fairies. each player saves vs spell vs random effect.
1= laughing 1d6 hours, 2=sleep 1d6 hours, 3=drunk 1d6 days -4 to all rolls vs dex, attack or int ,4= Blind 1d4 days.

The fairies mean no harm and just want to party with the party. there are hundreds of them and they swarm the party laughing and sprinkling powders of all colors...

A player can escape a fairy raid if they make 3 dex rolls vs running away...any fail results in you being hit by the fairy dusts. save vs spell.

2- Fine bottle of wine, left on rock.

This is really a Kobold trap. A ranger or anyone with tracking or simular skills has a chance to notice the tracks of kobolds (but they took care to hide them). The Kobolds have poisoned the wine, and will come here to track who took the wine in 1d4 days from now.

The wine is poison vs death- and smells fine. it was simply injected with a small shot of Spike-fish venom, and will cuase any who drink it a save vs posion within one hour after consumption.

The Kobolds do this sort of thing alot. They will arrive to track the bottle's taker in 1d4 days in numbers of 2d10 kobolds. they are cowards and will leave any party of great challenge alone.

3- Peryton (giant birds with elk heads) flying above. 1d4 of them. They are from the nearby mountains to the west, and hunt for food. There is a 10% chance rolled vs each player present (one individual roll at 10% per player.) that the Perytons see and attack in search of prey. They are not interested in treasure, just food. A peryton will select a target and only attack that target until dead, then it will grab it and leave with it...

4- A horse, black, horse with full hitpoints, and a +1 to all damage it delivers with hooves (horse trained to defend itself). the horse belonged to a well known knight that dissipeared in this area (Sir Phenton Phallus "yes! I have n NPC named Sir Phallus...what?)...the horse is inteligent for a horse, and has stood by the knight for many adventures...saddly the knight is now stone (cockitrice accident) and can be found on another random list to the south. The horse has been out here for over a year, and can be claimed or tamed only by a ranger or one with animal handling...

------------------------------------------------------

Thats how I do random lists, of course I add a little more color and depth into colorful areas with alot going on. but 6 lists like this in six directions from where you begin the adventure can really make the party think there is an entire world....when you get board between games, take an hour to create one...make it 10 pages! with sub-numbering of 10! 10x10 random list can be used many many many times before a party begins to see a pattern...

To use one of these lists, you can do what you want...what I do is this.

First I roll the encounter chance-
For this forest: there is a 25% chance per day that an encounter happens. the party can reduce this number to a 5% if they are guided by a ranger. All rolls resulting in a encounter are then applied to a time of day by rolling 1d4.

1=moring 2=noon, 3=night (setting up camp 4=during watch (night)

the party can increase the chance of encounter too...somtimes players want to...weird i know. Try screaming, banging pots, smelling like blood, or just walking around at night with alot of tourches...this can bring a random encounter up.

I had a mage once who was shooting magic into the air to create fireworks, just to get attention of the local random monsters (he was searching for the orcs who killed his PC friend)...the encounter chance rose to 75% a day.

Then next- if the chance makes an encounter happen, I roll two dice. one for page, and one for sub-number. On the list above there is a max of 4 pages, so i roll 1d4...it rolls a 2. so I goto page two.

Now I roll sub-number...there is a max of 4, so I roll 1d4. It rolls 2.

thats a 2,2 for encounter.
resulting in Wolves.

I currently have been running a place called Qwom, a new realm of my design. Its first game had about 5-6 of these type lists, and few hooks to back up things in the long scope. the lists double as great notes for what truly lives in each area.

You dont need to randomly roll rangers if you need them...simply have good reason to go get them, have them show up at town, or simply make them bump into the party...the good thing is, the lists allow you randomness and a working/moving background to throw your stories inside of...and they also are a long tally of all things living in the areas of your world.

Dunno if this helped...but thats how I get a world to be big from the start.

Ps- I also want to point out...two games ago, an entire 9 hour session of play was based off the players going to hunt a stone giant in a mountain area...the game was so good, with the players swearing a blood oath to have reveng on the giant for its horrible deeds (killing locals), and they wanted his blood in return for his act of killing a ranger they were friends with (npc that just became important but started as a random list person).

9 hours to find, hike to, and kill the giant...it was amazing how they built an entire 9 hour session around something that originally was a 5 minute sub-note of page 4 in a random mountain area that i never wanted them to goto in the first place...now the giant is dead and I have the party wanting to live there.

remember, retweek, move and erase things alot between games. the lists will only keep their integrity if you keep them updated.
if they found the wine, replace it..if they kill the wolves, replace them...allow the replacment to somtimes be logical next-steps in what was removed...you killed the orcs, ok, now the rest of the tribe down south wants to know what happend...now there is double the orcs, cuasing the woods to be even MORE dangerous.....or, you killed the cokitrices, allowing you to replace them with wild turkey, bringing the forest to a tamer level.

any of this help? who knows..im just board.

The party im running now came in as evil pirates, cut-throats who wanted blood and fortune at any price...they were mad dogs, killers in the making...

4-6 levels later, they are all now dudes who feel bad about killing certain things, they consider feelings waaaaaay to much, and they only seem to do evil in a selective way to promote the good of the land...

this is cus I used all my nice NPCs to give them guilty thoughts and consideration of even small peasents n farmers through detailing their pain and suffering in day to day common life...

evil PC? HA! bring them on...good display of NPCs can turn any man into a big soft dork when faced with the chance to do unspeakable evil towards the weak...

Another mistake alot of newer DMs make, is giving favour to NPCs over the players. Its a GM's job to be the realms physics and logic, not just story teller.

No PC likes eeing a DM save a NPC from certain death or defeat just to save his/her prescious story. If an NPC made the mistake of being vunerable, then the NPC should pay whatever price that mistake earns.

Even if your story was written with the idea of one NPC being the main actor in your story, the one who is there at the last act, pushing all the PC's buttons and ruining the day of the realm's collective life- a npc shouldnt get specile favour in the face of his/her early downfall.

Ive had epic villians that were to be the Darth Vader of all times simply fail and die in the first 2 minutes of meeting the PCs...a son of a great dead NPC (the father was the worlds worst bad guy for over a hundred years) was gunna be my next big bad badass for the PCs. He was going to be my little Hitler/hanible-lector for the entire campaign....his personality was great, his entire plan for world domination was awsome...he was the COOLEST npc bad-guy I had made in a very long time.

In his introduction he had many guards and was gloating about his plans for the land he was slowly gaining control over. He was preaching his evil to the gathered people of a town the PCs were visiting...one PC attacked him, rolled a 20, and delivered a critical blow that took off his head...

I was in awe, I paniced, I lost my mind...I was so pissed! He was the first born of an NPC that kicked the entire world's ass in my last campaign...this was his SON! destined to be my end-all hated and loved bad guy...

Now i coulda ressurected him, or rushed to find a way to say it wasnt true (you killed his stun double used for public relations!), but all that wasnt true...there was no double, and ressurection has been almost entirly lost to my realm in the past 5 campaigns...

So...he stayed dead. His armies were taken over by a Sgt in his command, a man I detailed as his right-hand go-to-guy, but never really intended to be the BIG evil. But, chaos happend, and he was promoted...now he is the world's new Hitler/hanibal-lector, and my dead NPC was buried in an unmarked grave forever forgotten.

I owed the rightful death of my NPC to my party...thats why they trust me to kill them, cus I dont take sides in dishing out death...

ah-ha! glad you asked...

The lists keep a realm open and free for player interaction. yes there is story laced into them, plot, hooks, secrets, hints to other places etc...the list is limited only by your effort to make them interesting.

Most encounters on the list need nothing more then names, a few stats and a desire or motive for them being there...they would also be suffering the same encounter list that you are, since they exsist in it, so i normally keep all things on a list within a close relation in power...keeps things seemingly real.

What stops the players from running into things that keep them in a fair fight? Heres the deal...nothing.

Rumor, lore, story, warnings..these are all I will give the PCs to keep them off a random list that has major monsters that will whupp them in a fight hands down...I tell them plainly

"look, the rangers of this area have noted giant activity to the northern mountains...if you go there, they may run into you..and then...well"

this usually keeps the PCs away till they assume they can take giants, if they fail..they die, or worse...

I dont guide my parties (see my other posts about open gameing and free-form play), nor do I restrict their movment through my realms just cus they are underclassed to deal with a monster on a list...

I know for a fact that down town Harlem is filled with guns and gangsters....whats keeping me from going there with my weapons and screaming for a fight? common sence...

PCs learn quickly in my realms, just cus it is there doenst mean you are powerful enough to fight it...heck, the local king might have sent 40 soilders a month ago, with only 4 returning, telling of a horrible sluaghter...this sort of forshadowing will give PCs a good idea of wheather or not they should go sword-in-hand toe-to-toe with my northern mountains.

From game one I have many areas detailed, and my PCs are always level 1 to begin. but There are areas that have enemies or monsters that could easyly challenge any group of 5th-to-6th level PCs right from the get-go.
From first game they know that certain areas are said to be "certain death"...those who over come this become heros, those who dont -went too far too fast.

If you make an entire realm for your 1st level players with no lists or stats for monsters able to fight higher levels, then you will be adding that stuff as you go (most DMs do this, from my view) and it sorta makes an arms race...

"whole party got 2 levels last game!? oh=no, better invent a new area on the fly to challenge them"

This can be fine..but my PCs live in a realm that is known for its diversity and challenge. I never direct them one way or another. the lists run themselves, leaving me the freedom to rest my writting hand and simply play my NPCs by the notes I made.

I have been playing a new realm that started a few months ago called Qwom (wrote alot about here if your interested check it out). I have sat down maybe 4 times in the past 5 months to actually add to that realm...it has been working fine for all these months, still with many areas that my PCs still fear to go to.

The PCs have killed the stone giants to the north (much more dangerous then Morge wood to the south) but they still fear going south to the woods...Now I know that the woods to the south are nothing compaired to the mountains they have been exploring and removing evil from...but they assume morge-wood to be far more dangerous due to a single monster on that list that drain's levels. Yes draining levels is dangerous, but killing three stone giants is far worse then that...

anyway...the PCs are allowed to go anywhere, they are also allowed to dare fate into killing them by travling to places normal men avoid like the pluage. its all up to them.

This remove any blame on my behalf...thats fun...cus I can watch them fail without them ever bitching sumthing was too hard or that i threw sumthing too strong at them..they are to blame for their own actions, and they only meet monsters in places they choose to go.

make sence?

Ill end this with saying..

In the old TSR blue-book catacombs n campaign making (sumthing like that, and the best book for any DM of any game to find, no matter the system or addition) says plainly...

"A good DM never makes choices for his players. The PCs are allowed total freedom of the realm and their choices within it. Leading a party or soft-handed direction is never a good idea"

The book plainly sapports a game like mine, and poops on the types of games that id say 95% of all DMs run...When you guide or direct the PCs they prolly dont mind...but once they have hand at a game like mine, one that allows total freedom they may never play a directed game again.(wanna make a house? make one...wanna go fishing? go...wanna travel 100 mile north to hunt the she-hag? fine..you might not survive, but if you do- your a hero).

I have personally had many PCs tell me the way I run things is amazing, and that I have ruined all other games for them..im not bragging, im simply saying I have a cult of players who call me all weeks begging for the next instalment, I have a bounty of players who have quit other games to play mine..and I currently am teaching two DMs how I run my game so they can do the same type of mechanics in their own realms they rule over.

I recently played in a game that started using a system based on freedom and my advice...and man, it was the best game this kid ever ran, and every player knew it..it was llike black n white, night n day...how fast this DM went from "eh, not bad" to "wow, that was REALLY fun stuff!"

Best game I ever played a PC in..and I cant wait to play again...I never am dieing to play a PC in any game cus it lacks freedom and realism...his game now sapports that philospohy and mechanic...and I for one am addicted now...first game realm I ever was addicted to other then my own.

The style is documented in that catacombs-n-campaign source book by TSR. Its a thin blue book and in my opinion its the best peice of writting any DM could ever get his hands on to hoan his craft. Please, find it, read it, learn from it...it has done more for me then any monster manual or DMs guide. It made me a artist in DMing, not just a number crunching fool who works really hard, game to game, plotting a sure path for the feet of my players, right before we play...

I don't think you should avoid encounters which are too easy for the PCs... not every encounter will be a challenge. That can make things more realistic.

Also, it might make them a bit overconfident, which will make a later encounter that much more interesting.

I'm totally picking up what you're putting down man. Every single living thing in my setting is an NPC waiting to be interacted with. I don't even write down stats for NPCs most of the time...I've been using these rules long enough to know approximately how many HP any given creature type has (or whatever it is...not necessarily HP).

Even the animals are NPCs when it comes down to it...you never know when someones going to make a character with the ability to speak to animals. I once had a whole story line centered around the "Thumper King" and the problems he was having with his subjects. (Thumpers are what very large jack rabbits call themselves in this setting).

I am.

I commonly only use the "reply" feature when I'm going slightly off topic in my response to any individual post. I guess it does make the page kinda cluttered though sometimes...

Odd though...your new post was there, and now it's gone. My cat probably took that too.

cool. if they leave the city, will things get less magical? is this drastic mix of races in the party going to draw unwanted attention in the farthest lands away from the city?

2 openly gay men leave new york to travel to Kentucky...uh oh. People there may not embrace such a sight as two male lovers in an area as conservitive...

if the players ever leave the city, will you attempt to show them a difference of thinking between city folk (sassy, tech savey, consumers) and farm folk (hard working, self reliant, practical)?

and will they see a difference in what is available to them through markets of trade depending on city vs rural area? I bought a big mac in the city for like 5 bucks man!!!

the city may provide anything and everything, being a consumer mecca of the known world, but are all lands like that?

im interested in you city's structure of religeion, law and scholastic studies...and what its like for your players the first time they ever walk down that street...dont forget to discribe the smells, thats what makes newyork really newyork.

I'll give you immediate reactions in order.

1. What does the body have to do with anything? It doesn't sound like it had anything to do with the rest of your adventure (quest to get something from sewer).

2. Why didn't the PCs ignore the body or just leave? I wouldn't stick around a corpse:

3. You skip from interrogation with the Watch (which could provide some cool drama) to being hired by a noble. What noble would hire three guys accused of assault or murder? Even if the PCs aren't charged with the corpse, they still got into a fight immediately afterwards.

4. Wouldn't the Watch, having arrested, interrogated, and freed the PCs, still be a bit suspicious of them? After all, I highly doubt that the PCs had overwhelming evidence of their guiltless status. Having just left a tavern, I can safely assume that none of them are cold sober. It's not like they had to drive home after all.

If they Watch was keeping an eye on the PCs, wouldn't that 2nd fight land them right back in jail?

5. Why did you kill the thief? Why didn't he just run? Doesn't he have a sense of survival? In my earlier comments I advised you to think like the NPCs. If I attacked three guys with two of my buddies and I couldn't seem to do anything, I wouldn't stick around, I'd run off like Forest Gump on Speed. In fact, I'd probably run straight to the Watch to report the mugging/murder of my two friends:

He would've made a great enemy that wanted revenge on the PCs for the death of his friends. Could've popped up whenever things started to drag, foiled PC plans for spite, hired assassins later in life. Death is so final. I never kill an NPC when I don't have to.

6. You were intent of forcing your one player to go down into the sewers because that is what your adventure called for. He didn't want to without getting a magical item. He failed his role to convince the Johnson (Shadowrun term) and so turned down the contract. While I assume that the other players weren't mute of this issue (unless their characters weren't there) I'll stick with the one PC and his Johnson. A sticky situation indeed ;-) Why wouldn't the Johnson compromise? Instead of $1k Gold, he could have given the GROUP one small magical item.

It depends on how much a gold piece is worth and how common magical items are. In my world a gold piece is worth a hundred dollars. Imagine $100 bill in the 1950's.

Magical items aren't very common in my world, especially when compared to magical dumping grounds like the Forgotten Realms. So the price of magical items goes up as a result of supply and demand.

A wand of fireballs would cost would cost a thousand dollars or so per charge, 50% more if it were rechargeable. The cost goes up with how powerful the fireball is as well.

If we used an example from D&D a wand with 10 fireballs would start at $10k. If they were set by a 9th lvl mage, you can multiply the cost by at least 9, one for ech lvl for a sum of $90k. You'll want a rechargeable wand so add another $40k for a grand total of $130,000!

If you have a world where money is precious and doesn't grow on trees (again, the Forgotten Realms is a good opposite of what I am referring to) than the characters will have to work very hard indeed to get this wand. That means that the average bloke on the street won't have one either.

Your one player wanted a magical item instead of $1K. That's fine. Imagine what kind of trinket would cost $1k if the above mentioned wand cost $130k. He'd probably get a flower that changes colors or insoles that keep his feet fresh or something equally useless.

Remember when you are running games that the word "no" should be used very rarely, if ever. One of the best pieces of GMing that I ever read was called, "When in doubt, roll and shout!". I think that it was from Sifilos' fav book, but I could be wrong.

What it means is that when you are in don't or the players surprise you, instead of saying "no" or "you can't do that", just set a difficulty and have them roll. If they fail, then give them the logical result. If they succeed, give them what they want.

In this case, you could have said "Yes", and then you would have had the entire adventure comprised of at least two full sessions to come up with an appropriately lame magical item.

Hope this helps!

Ok, heres what I "think" could have been done, or what I woulda did at the drop of a hat on both subjects.

1- The job vs the pay: First off 1000 gld is a fortune in my game, I dunno, hell even a thousand bucks today aint anything to sniff at. Most of my players would jump at the chance to earn such cash, but at times, yes, the players (or one) might just refuse the pay...thats fine...when it happens I offer the job to the rest of the players, and tell the refusing ones that I cant run "two games" for you and the party who wishes to venture into the sewers, so if they want to wait while the players delv into this adventure, they can, or they can go with them...

Either way, no player wants to wait around while other's play, but this tactic is very heavey handed, and I dont use it often at all...

What I do think woulda stopped this, was never assuming you had a solid adventure with this one adventure to the sewer. Everything thing I make in my realms (in the way of missions or adventures) I never assume they will choose to do, or if they do they may not take the side that I intended them to (taking sides with the killer for instance)...The kid wanted a magic item? Id inform him such a thing is never worth more then ten times the emount they are offering the entire party to split- they are just that expensive...

"what in the world are you trying to do? retire off a trip to the sewers? surly you jest young artificer!!!"

Anyway...It almost seems that you sat down with the idea to have them goto the sewers, care if sumone got murdered and just really hoped that all your players would play along....most players do, its the crafty players and the jerks that never go along with what you intend...I never have to worry about that...cus me, as the DM never knows what direction they will choose.

I woulda used the moment to share the sewer idea with the party, then told them that the job is offered to all the city bountyhunter/\adventure seekers and that they shouldnt have to worry, if the pay is too low "real heros" will surly do it for half the price, or perhaps free...(that kind of talk makes a party think they may miss out on sumthing).

Then Id have the same guy run down a list of important things they may be able to help with...but you would have to have 4-6 more things to do other then the sewer....easy...I dont know much about Ebberon, so i cant give any ideas one what small side adventures you could have had set up before game, but a small handful of "other things" to do would give picky players or trouble makers a choice, so they dont feel like that have the ability to blackmail an NPC for magic items...if there is tons of things to do, who gives a damn if these 1st level morons do the job??? We run a fricken city! we got alot of problems!!! do you want the damn job or not? if not, get out, we are very busy!!!

2-killing the thief...
Well im sure the city will not miss one theif, but you did throw away a good chance at a reaccuring NPC. the guy shoulda attempted escape, or gave up in fear of dieing (any man surrounded by a group of armed men, after having your comrads killed by said men, left to stand alone, will NOT fight to the death unless vitally important, or the thief is a mad man). I woulda made the theif surrender without a doubt....sent him to jail, perhaps had a guild bail him out, and bring him back 3-5 games later with reveng on his mind.

Perhaps the guild gets him outta jail to insure his loyalty (look, your were a hanged man in there, now your safe on the outside...you owe us your freedom and life, and we reseve the right to cash in on that dept if you dont do what we want"...

The theif was an NPC that had value as a NPC that you never had any thought on making important...remember (its all over this thred) that every NPC, no matter how small, as the fire of life in his eyes and shouldnt ever be played as a tool or a stat sheet. He was a man, with possibly a lover or wife, a real job, and all the things that make him a living working person of the world...to just kill him wasnt a horrible mistake, but in the future Id consider having NPCs react the way you would if you were surrounded by armed men, after they killed all your friends who were backing you up, in minutes...

me and you would both surrender if it seemed the safest thing to do to escape death...if the armed men seemed the type to not take prinsoners (even when the prisoner is begging mercy of the good gods)-then perhaps running away was a good idea....either way, selling your NPC to death's door is prolly the lest exciting thing for an NPCs progression in evolution of his charicture.

Even if he was a namless stat on a random list, his interaction with the party should be a good signal to try and save his life, anyway possible, so he can return or continue to be a living person in the city...You would be shocked how many of my time-old table-favorit NPCs have started off as nameless punks who coulda died or survived a battle with a bunch of first level dudes...

any life, no matter how small or far away from your plot, should want to live, and do whatever is in his power to escape or survive...even if it means going to jail. The guy should begged for life or ran...cus he was doomed, and he knew it.

Its cool to see you say

1gld equal 100 bucks...in my game thats the one-the-dime worth of money as well.

its also cute how everything on the NPC running and becoming a returning person in the game appeared in both our posts.

Perhaps we are alot alike behind our DM screens.

But yes....anytime you act out an NPC the first thing I always do is

FORGET every aspect about the entire session and game that this individual dosnt know or care about. His mind isnt oocupied with the sewers, or murders of strange city folk, or the political problems of the mages vs the unicorn farmers, whatever...

become that NPC...if its a dirty one-handed farmer whos loosing money cus of his missing hand (bitten off by a owlbear) he ONLY cares about a few things...his farm, his family, his wound and possibly killing that owl bear...if he met a party , imagin how deranged he would seem over candle light, offering his entire savings in return for the owlbear's head...(or claw). His life has nothing to do with your epic story or plans for the partie's big adventure...he is a silly old farmer on a quest to hunt the big bad owlbear, and like Ishmale he will not stop till he or the bear are dead...and THATS his motivation....so when playing him, id forget everything else you wrote and just think about your hand, the bear, and your money problems with the farm...

I was also wondering what a murdered person would mean to a newly entered 1st level party...I would assume murder happens often enough in a city to just see it as a tragic soul...but I dont know Ebberon, and I can understand the confusion and arrest.

I also considered the post below this one, it said

perhaps an hapless adventurer had long ago had stumbled into the sewers and never returned...perhaps he had a magic item, I thought this when i read the re-cap as well, but i never got to mentioning it, and I'm glad sumone did.

fact remains, the party was being guided towards the sewers from the start...when that happens logic gets blurred or confusing...like how does a murder lead a government to hire the suspects to work for the city? Seems wrong (hence why Cal pointed it out), but to you as the DM, were just looking for a way to get the "adventure" in the sewer started...they needed to talk to the city's officals, so a murder brought them there, POOF instant reason to get hired for the sewer !!!

I dont think thats how it would normally go down...but then again, i dont know the full background on this...perhaps the city murdered this guy, and they fear the group knows too much, so they want to send them to death (like that lost adventurer so long ago) to the sewers...isnt that were governments send all their trash?

So yeah...I think you pigeion holed the party cus there was a lack of things to do OTHER then your sewer. if the guy wanted a magic item, it woulda been easy to look at my notes for a lost magic item and tell the party sumthing like

"yeah, there are zombies to the north, an old village that is now damned...the old inhabitants are all walking undead, and no one has the balls to go fix that. Our shcolors think its a magical item that producing this effect, a lost Sceptar of some sort or what not"

I usually try to make side adventures for each class of the game.
Fighter- thugs downtown are making small shops pay them to operate in the ghetto.
Theif- A guild is offering a reward for a snitch who is a master of disguise, be on the look out (then id hide that NPC in the lists sumwhere, in disquise)
Cleric- Undead to the north, a villager is over run and damned by zombies. those who die become zombies, and the problems has the chance to grow to impossible levels of danger if not handled soon.
Ranger- pouchers are taking the owlbear eggs from the local forest, and selling them to a enemy state to the west, they are hatching the eggs and training the cubs to grow into tamed guard dogs....giving this state trained owlbears as mounts and attack animals.
Mage- A lost magical item has been reported to have been lost in the sewers by a travling mage who was on a quest to find a very old book that details the entire 1st level spells of the player's handbook. the book is small (pocket size) and enchanted to hold endless pages...
Bard- A local band is making much hub-bub in the local area...(ive done this before too) and they are the cat's meow. they are getting so much attention from the youth...saddly, behind the stage, behind the act, the group is actually a bunch of evil killers who kill fans and offer them to an evil muse who returns the sacrifices with fame...only going to the show and getting back stage can ever allow the party to see this

A small side adventure for each class can often give the appearence of huge diversity...and the fighter may want to do the mage-type side adventure, the ranger may want to stop the zombies just as much as any cleric...the fact remains that the small notes i just typed above would be enough for me to freestyle 1-5 games of 4-9 hour sessions without much more work then adding names and numbers...

bare bones, that small little list of side adventures can be used to freestyle or navigate a party that wants to go a way you didnt intend.

I would have had the noble back out at that point due to the implied status of that character's intelligence. And I would have said so. It's not like the noble DOESN'T have guards. She can say anything that she wants. She can also hire anyone that she wants.

One thing that you might wanna think about doing is getting rid of your parties wealth. Even if $1k is toilet paper money in your world it'll still by a meal or three and put a roof over your head.

Pickpockets, games of chance, con artists, prostitutes, and gangs can easily remove someone's money. So could the Watch. "How'd ya get all dis money boy? I'd betta lock dis up 'till we see if'n anyone's been robbed. You c'n get it back inna week if yous tellin' us true. Now git!"

BTW it helps if you know a few games of chance as well. Dice games are best for obvious reasons, but card games, dart, daggers, runes, and drinking games can really liven up a roleplaying session.

ABTW I couldn't get g a m b l i n g or g a m b l e r s to work either. Erased my whole well thought out and written post. I was very saddened and almost shed a tear, but then I realized that I had the power of the BACK button and I am happy again.

Dont fear paying too much, too much... thats sumthing we all did and do at times. screw it. and dont worry bout your first gasme not being perfect, none of my games have ever been perfect and im going on 22 years as a DM now...

Alls you gotta do is get better every few games, grow as a performer (cus thats what a DM really is) and find new and exciting ways to shake things up. Let your style be like water, conforming the the container's shape not the other way around (players=water, container=adventure). your doing a fine job might i add.

You are seeking advice to better your craft. You are being open minded in your quest, and being polite in taking advice (sumthing I sumtimes cant do). your deisre to be an artist of the dungeon shows greatly, and i for one think your going to be a damn good story spinner if you continue to do this sort of thing.

22 years of me being a DM, I suaght out this site for one reason...more advice on DMing. I came to find DMs, see what they do, disscuss things like we are doing now...and i really could just have said "screw it" Im good enough, my players are happy, i dont need to look for new ideas or other DM's to get my creative juices bubbling.

But im here...and for the same reason you are. i am ALWAYS searching out new ways to shock, surprise, reward and punish my players...

So, dont give a damn what last game rated as on a score of 1-10 for "good vs bad game"...it was your first, right? Always look forward to the new game, and use past games as history to learn from.

Just wanted to give you a high five for caring enough about the DM's job to actually work towards building a style with true attention to the craft...Not every playing group has a DM who even tries to be new or original on any level...they dont think about finer things like economy, inter racial relations, politics, techonolgy, etc etc...they simply say

"you found orcs...get your dice ready"

So, its safe to say your on the road to becoming a DM thats rare and worth his weight in gold...

Nice post, Sif.

I agree; you're gonna take your lumps when you start out. Just keep plugging along and learn from it. The suggestions in this thread alone are plenty to feed your emotional support needs

And yes, after 20+ years (not getting specific like Sif did -- I am an old timer after all haha!) I can still make some errors. But I can say I run better games now than I did back then. You have the initiative and desire, and that's what's hard to find in a DM. Many a group/game I've played where the DM didn't really want to do the job, and believe me it showed.

If someone of nobility is offering a substantial amount of money for a task, believe me, the word would get out. Servants talk to delivery boys who talk to their employers who talk amongst themselves in the taverns, etc...

Hmm... not a bad way for rumors to get started either, huh? ;)

Another thing to consider is that:

1. The pcs are 1st level nopbodies. If they were to suddenly dissapear, no one would notice.

2. I can safely assume that the noble didn't pay the pc's upfront. Who's to say that she will when they complete their task?

3. If the noble does screw over the PCs, what can they do about it? Go to the Watch? HAHAHahahhaha!!!!

There could be more than one noble who knows of and wants this prize. If the noble in question screws the party over bad enough (prison time, floggings, etc) they might do the rest of it for free just to get even.

Just a thought...

I totally reward players for thinking outside the box. I probably would've given the druid some sort of reward just for trying. Of course, I'd have given them a bigger reward if they had succeeded.

Thanks for not taking umbrage at my soft-hearted jab

Nice hook; I like that encounter. Great idea. Good resolution, too.

Sounds more like a lack of wisdom than charisma -- d'oh!