Comments on: My Campaign Planning Cycle

By: Johnn

Johnn — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:26:10 +0000

Great questions Jack! I’ll put these in the queue.

By: Jack Crow

Jack Crow — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:32:48 +0000

Thanks Johnn, feel free to use this for an ask the GMs feature if you want.

I generally use the fly by the seat of my pants method of encounter creation. Sometimes it works out, most of the time I am disappointed with the end result and wish I’d planned it better. The advice that I’m really looking for is;

1) What is a good starting point for designing an encounter?

2) What are some suggestions for making unique encounters that keep the players guessing and excited?

2) What are some suggestions for plotting important story point encounters while avoiding the standard “boss fight” style confrontation model?

3) Rules (d20 is fine) or suggestions for environmental effects during an encounter. Such as; Falling rocks, battles on rickety bridges etc…

4) Pacing. How do you ensure the encounter is well paced and exciting?

Thanks for the help.

Cheers,

Jack

Jack Crow’s last blog post..How I play the game

By: Johnn

Johnn — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:34:00 +0000

@Jack: Top down is a great approach to session planning. First, it gives you a ton of details to ad lib with when needed. GMs who only plan encounters find it more difficult to make things up as they go within the context of their settings, and consequently end up with more consistency issues to clean up after games.

Also, top down is less reactive to the PCs. This helps create realistic situations and settings.

As for tips on encounter planning, is there something in particular that gives you difficulty? If you can narrow your request a bit I’ll use it for an upcoming Ask the GMs feature.

By: Jack Crow

Jack Crow — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:00:30 +0000

I follow a similar model for campaign prep and design. The area where we probably differ is that I work from the world down to the encounters, where it seems you work from the encounters up to the world. My weak point is in encounter planning, in that I hardly ever plan encounters and usually improvise them as they come along. I just started a new bi weekly campaign and I'm trying very hard this time to actually plan the encounters and really streamline the campaign for maximum awesome fun impact. If you have any advice It would be greatly appreciated. Jack Crow’s last blog post..Awesome Pic of the Week

By: Ryder

Ryder — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:58:58 +0000

John, I’m grateful for your comments, I’ve put them in use. I’ll tell you how they work.

By: FreeMind Tips for Game Masters | Campaign Mastery

FreeMind Tips for Game Masters | Campaign Mastery — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:28:36 +0000

[...] brainstorm or document, and then change the structure – move things around – as you write. When I plan for game sessions, I’ll leap from one idea to the next, in no particular order once I get going. Sure, I could [...]

By: Masteh Casteh

Masteh Casteh — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:00:22 +0000

I wish I had the two weeks in between sessions, that would help me always be ready, especially on weeks when I have a ton of homework/responsibilities.

By: 11 Ways to Learn New Games: Guest Post by Johnn Four | UncleBear

11 Ways to Learn New Games: Guest Post by Johnn Four | UncleBear — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:35:30 +0000

[...] out his new GM Advice blog at CampaignMastery.com. Recent posts include My Campaign Planning Cycle and DM Tool: Scrabble Tiles for Your Minis & [...]

By: Rafe

Rafe — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:26:05 +0000

That's a great planning cycle. I like the move from concepts/ideas to defining those to creating the session. Mine tends to be deductive in that I go from the specific to the general. What are the characters going to do next? From that specific, how does it branch out to affect the larger picture? I try to work within the idea of story arcs, but I don't have that down. Personally, 4e makes planning a lot easier than previous editions as I can plan by level, so to speak; what encounters will move the party from level 2 to 3, and how do those fit into the broader story to create a progressive campaign and not episodic leveling? Once I have an idea of how various encounters will fit together to move the party where they want to go (with lots of room for them to spin things on their heads), I work out the exact encounters with special attention to the characters various spotlight abilities or characteristics. Rafe’s last blog post..The Three "R"s of Session Planning