How much Campaign do you Plan before the Start?
Imagine a spectrum of planning effort. On one end you have every possible detail worked out, including complete world development, all the adventures until campaign end, a complete cast of NPCs, everything. Let’s call this end 10.
On the other end of the spectrum you have nothing planned. You show up to the table and ask the players what they want to play. Hopefully you have the game rules players picked on hand. You have no plot, villains, setting, or campaign climax in mind. Further, as each session passes you still don’t plan ahead. Facts and details get nailed down as you play. Let’s call this end 1.
What’s Your Campaign Prep Sweet Spot?
- Where are you on this spectrum for most of your campaigns?
- Think back on your best campaigns. Where were you on the spectrum for those?
- What about your worst campaigns, from 1-10?
7 is Just Right
I find I do best on a 7. I like to know my world first before layering on my adventures. I also like to have two or three adventures lined up before play starts. If the character deviate from my plans that’s ok. However, knowing a lot of details about the setting, villains, NPCs, adventure sites, and upcoming encounters often lets me shift things to suit changes in the situation.
Some might call this railroading. However, I find all this preparation beforehand gives me more freedom to have the world react to the PCs as well as act upon the PCs.
My current campaign suffers from a lack of preparation right now. I’m slowly catching up, but right now I’m at 4 out of 10. It’s tempting to switch from world building and adventure crafting to pure published fare, but I’ve been running published stuff for past two campaigns and I’m eager to design as well as run game sessions.
What about you? In addition to your answers to the questions above, where is your current campaign in terms of preparation level?
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January 21st, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Those maps are amazing. I love them! So good, yet… so homebrewed!
On topic – I usually think I am at a 6.. but during play feel like I’m at a 3. My goal would be at an 8, but I’ve rarely hit that high. My players seem to think I have everything planned, maybe a 9 from their viewpoint? or maybe I’m just decent at improv?
jonathan’s last blog post..RPG Blog Anthology Weekly Update
January 21st, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I’m definitely at 6 or 7. I plan out a bunch before starting but not everything. I like to create as I go, too. I’m like jonathon, I feel alot less confident during play.
Viriatha’s last blog post..Cerberi
January 21st, 2009 at 7:07 pm
I’d say I’m around an 8 but allow for my players to turn it into a 5 or 7. ;-)
I think the goal is for the players to feel like they’re playing in a game with prep at 8 or 9. So the DM needs to be wherever he’s comfortable with for the players to feel that things are all part of the plan. Sometimes this means being a 3 or 4, or less, others at 7 or 8. I’ve known some great DMs who just fly by the seat of their pants and it works out great. Conversely, I’ve known full-prep style DMs run a poor game because they couldn’t react to the players’ decisions and run with ’em.
Rafe’s last blog post..The Three "R"s of Session Planning
January 21st, 2009 at 7:09 pm
I’m definitely a four and I have to admit I did regret it a few times to prepare too much ahead of time.
And enjoy it a lot to make an adventure on the fly, on the other hand it’s always good to have some extras prepared at hand.
I think it depends a lot on the players and the campaign, for higher level ones I tend to prepare more but currently we’re running around level 6-8 and I still got a lot of stuff around and do remember from earlier preps… So probably I’m somewhere between 6-7 with higher levels as well…
Strange question it is – really :D
TheLemming’s last blog post..epic preparation – p3 – History & Geo
January 21st, 2009 at 7:31 pm
It depends on the system for me.
With D&D, I usually hover between 4-7. While I have definite ideas about where I want it to go, I keep player options open. I just throw bait out there on several lines and see which one they bite on, then I make a lot of the stuff up as we go… Even though I am low on the scale, my confidence is always high. For me, planning does not equal confidence.
Mad Brew’s last blog post..Drum of Feeble Flesh
January 21st, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I am somewhere around a five. I like to have my world fully realized and designed but I like to have a lot space in the adventure for improvisation, so I tend to leave them less detailed.
Jack Crow’s last blog post..Congratulations America
January 21st, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I’m not great at improv, but I don’t usually plan ahead—I plan to the side. So, while my campaigns are pretty strictly on-rails, I offer, say, three dungeon sites to explore to accomplish a given goal.
Encounter and critter design, plus map-drawing come easy, and I enjoy them, so I find I can be very productive setting up a rolling storyline and offering my players several possibilities, but I never really plan ahead except in the broadest sense, and my worlds are as detailed as they need to be to make the players happy and run the game.
So, I really have no idea where that places me on your scale, Johnn. Probably pretty low, despite the amount of prep I go through.
Off topic: what’s the story with those maps?
RPG Ike’s last blog post..Amazing Transforming Elite 4E Critters * Swarm Golem to Spider Mite Swarm
January 21st, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I’m usually at around a 2. My typical setting is a mostly generic, anachronistic medieval high-fantasy sort of place. I might have a couple ideas for specific locations, and I’ll know how the party comes together.
My current campaign is, I think, the one I’m going to look back on as my best. I pitched the players three concepts that I had at about a 2, then fleshed out the one they chose to a 5, which ended up at around a 7 by the time they were done telling me about their characters. I know very little about the parts of the world that they haven’t explored yet, but the areas around their home base are fairly detailed, and there are a lot of vibrant NPCs. I usually think at least one story arc ahead. Session-by-session, the number varies from a 1 to a 10 based on how much they change their minds halfway through.
I don’t have any campaigns I look back on and wince, but my shortest two campaigns were at around 9. Something about putting that much planning into something before it starts seems to have a jinxing effect.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:37 am
@jonathan: could you be have a 20 in Bluff? How is the RPG Blog Anthology going? btw, nice post on Starting a Campaign [http://www.thecoremechanic.com/2008/12/10-things-to-do-before-starting-new-rpg.html] Mind if I put that in the e-zine with a link back?
@Viriatha: what particular aspect don’t you feel comfortable about during play? One great stalling tactic is to get a 2 litre bottle of Coke and spill it all over the character sheets. As the players freak out you quietly slip out the back….
@Rafe: I’ve played with Mr. Seat-Of-The Pants before too. Never matched my style because I like to think in terms of world consistency, consequences, and interactions when playing. It just never seemed right to me that I was thinking further ahead into the future than the DM was. That’s just me though.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:42 am
Welcome to Campaign Mastery Swordgleam, Rafe, TheLemming, and MadBrew. Thanks for posting!
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:48 am
Hahahaha, I’ll have to remember that :) It’s when they decide to explore a region of the setting I never in a zillion years thought they’d care anything about. For example, actually wanting to know the name and appearance of the random shop tending NPC because they’ve unexpectedly decided it would make a great contact and had never shown any inclination in the past to do anything similar.
I’m getting better at it but still feel awkward. I’m told by the players I don’t come off that way, though, so I guess those points in Bluff were well spent!
Viriatha’s last blog post..Cerberi
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 am
@TheLemming – what is it about higher level campaigns that require planning? More PC options to consider?
@Mad Brew: “planning does not equal confidence.” Nice. I’m jealous. I’ve just realized I’m the other way. Thanks for the insight!
@RPG Ike: “I don’t usually plan ahead—I plan to the side.” Very quotable! Thanks.
The maps are user creations at http://forum.cartographersguild.com/ You can click on the map to get the large size for use in your personal campaigns (might require login / registration). They have a lot of sweet maps over there, and the folks are awesome at supporting mappers with answers, tips, and advice.
@Swordgleam: Agreed on the jinx of over-planning. I feel NPCs often make or break a campaign. Could be there were a major factor of your 7 success.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:50 am
@Johnn – Anthology is going _Great_ ! I’ve got an elite team of crack special forces assitant editors and artists who are helping my n00b self make something that is going to awesome. Currently, I’m hammering out layout, design and style sheets. Tons of artwork in the folder already, more incoming from the artists. I’m really blown away by it all – everyone is so damn buzzed up about it and pitching in – it rocks.
about the link/inclusion in the e-zine. Honestly, I’m not completely sure what you mean; but.. SURE! everything on The Core Mechanic is under a CC license, so as long as you are not selling it – and let people know I’m the author – SURE! take it! and THank you!
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:50 am
@Jack: I’m designing a homebrew world right now. Have any advice on how to make it fully realized?
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:07 am
@jonathan: congrats on the progress. Thanks for permission to repost! When the anthology is out ping me and I can give you a free ad in the ezine. I’m sure GMs who subscribe will want to learn more about it.
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:17 am
I’m always glad to help a fellow homebrewer Johnn. The best advice I can give for homebrewing a world is know the difference between a fully realized and a fully detailed setting. A fully realized world does not have to be complete it just has to suggest completeness (wow that was kinda zen). Don’t detail more than you need, or you might risk creative paralysis when you’re playing. Detail the awesome parts of the world and really make an effort to create something unique to enhance play experience. Be sure the feel and tone of the setting reflect your overall meta concept and let the game evolve to fill in the rest of the details during play. I have learned this the hard way, I over detail all the time and have to force myself to only create what needs creating for the game. I am going to write a series on creating a homebrew settings on my blog sometime in next while, feel free to pop by and give me some advice. I hope that helps and good luck. Just to let you know role playing tips was the first RPG site I ever read, and its still one of my favorites.
Jack Crow’s last blog post..What’s your class baby?
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:59 am
I’ll keep this short as a more substantial reply would be longer than your post! My prep standard is all over the place on your scale. In terms of world and campaign concept, it’s a 9. In terms of maps and key locations and such, it’s a 4, maybe less. I’ll generally have a vague idea of where the campaign is going to head in terms of plot – call that a 1. I’ll usually break each of those plot arcs into individual scenarios that are designed to advance the overall metaplot (or allow background scenes to develop or come to light), normally only a 1-3 line summary of the action – call that a 2 or 3. At the start of each scenario, I’ll expand on those 1-3 lines into a page or two detailing what is going on, how whatevr the PCs are currently up to will fit into it, how I can connect them to the action of the scenario, and spending a line or five detailing any key NPCs. Call that a 5. Finally, before each game session, I will go through and prepare a more detailed plan of just the part of the scenario that is likely to be in the next day of play, which integrates everything I know about the PCs (and player’s) plans, character backgrounds, ambitions, current circumstances, etc. Depending on what I need, that could be rated as anything from a 7 to a 9. Which usually cuts back to a 5-7 rating by the time my plans encounter a player! The first couple of scenarios in a campaign are typically ‘get your feet wet’ ideas that are designed to introduce the key concepts of the campaign to the players. The result is that the scenarios always feel like a 9 or 10 to the players – but also always integrate whatever they want to do, even if they only decided to do it during the session! I’m pretty good at improv when I have my foundations settled – and if they aren’t, that’s always my first task. If I have to – and it has happened from time to time – I can run the scenario straight from that 1-3 line description; it never feels quite as polished, but it still integrates seamlessly into the bigger picture.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:57 am
Knowing a few adventures ahead is huge. I’ve always done my best GM’ing having an idea of where I want to go. Also, preparing too much is usually just as bad as not at all. I will say though, in Horror/Suspense games like Call of Cthulhu or any similar type of game, I think preparation and knowing your timeline is key. Cause you need to build that sense of urgency in that game (its all about suspense).
Samuel Van Der Wall’s last blog post..Show Me The Gaming Props!
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:48 pm
@Jack: great advice. I look forward to reading your series – please let me know when it’s been posted!
@Samuel: agree. Have you ever played Dread? Supposed to be a great horror/suspense game. Keep up the excellent work at http://www.roleplayingpro.com
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:50 pm
@Mike: “normally only a 1-3 line summary of the action – call that a 2 or 3. At the start of each scenario, I’ll expand on those 1-3 lines into a page or two detailing what is going on”
Excellent! That’s a great way to stay lean until required. Good tips on campaign dev.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:35 pm
I find this question compelling and interesting. I believe I’ve never actually gone beyond 6, mostly because in the relationship with my players I often found their attitude to be the rebelliuos against “railroading”. So, I had to be extra subtle to guide the adventure to where I wanted it to go, and had to remain extra flexible. Star Wars D6 system was very good for me exactly because of it’s flexibility.
Currently, I’m mastering my very first D&D campaign, and have found difficult to construct a good setting. My problem lies in some kind of personal difficulties in my new role as DM.
I’d like to ask you personally John, how do you make the time to plan ahead?
Ryder
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Since I’m just about to kick off a homebrew campaign, this subject has been near and dear to my heart.
I’m about a 5 to 6 in terms of detail, but a 7 to 8 in terms of understanding how the world is ticking along just as the players enter the stage. What happens after that is up to them, but at least I know the major set pieces and know where things have inertia to go if the players don’t get involved.
That’s why I like things like the one page dungeon/wilderness keys and the brief overviews of NPCs, names only, basic town layout/shops and that’s about it. This will all get developed in play and I’ll go to my notes and fill in as it happens.
Chgowiz’s last blog post..Help!
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Welcome to Campaign Mastery Chgowiz! I love your blog btw. http://oldguyrpg.blogspot.com/ – good job.
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 pm
When it comes to maps and settings, I like to be at least a six, so I know what the world looks like, I get the bigger picture and I can fill in the small details whenever the players want me to.
In my story arcs, I keep it at a four, I dont try to railroad my players, they almost always willingly get involved. Its tough when one person in the group doesnt want to take the hook and after I will ask him what he would really like to do. Being at a preperation level of four, I can add in parts designed specifically for those players.
When I put my players through a scenerio, I’m ussually at an eight, that way I know exactly what to do, no matter what my players situation is. That didnt always work out though (1/15 of the time), especially in my early days (1/5 of the time). My early days I learned to be a lot less prepared until I ‘knew’ what I was good at. Now adays I also leave a bit of leeway so that if something isnt working out, I can always do something differently, which is why I prepare anywhere from five to eight.
January 24th, 2009 at 12:57 am
@Masteh Casteh: “Its tough when one person in the group doesnt want to take the hook and after I will ask him what he would really like to do.”
Very nice approach. Great communication like this solves most problems.
January 27th, 2009 at 4:00 am
[…] Ryder asks in my previous post about level of readiness in your campaign planning how I find time to work on my campaign between game sessions. My current recipe is very successful, based on years of trial and error and from facing a ton of time theft from other parts of my life. […]
January 27th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Mike Bourke’s post was spooky in how much it matched my processes… I believe in “Freewheeling” gaming within a restricted game-sector.
Step 1) Get an idea for a campaign, work it up into a proposition for a group of players.
Step 2) If they go for it, define the world history, basic cultures in conflict to explain to players the PC creation possibilities. Define the starting sector fairly well, and the world only lightly (they won’t be visiting the entire world immediately anyhow).
Step 3) Let them create their characters together. During this, listen to/ask thme what they’d like (campaign-wise). Sometimes I go the full blown questionnaire route.
Step 4) Run a short intro scenario to “get their feet wet”.
Step 5) Before the next scenario, detail the area they’ll game in in greater detail, keeping one step ahead of them all the time. Have the concept of the important areas they might visit in your head at the very least. Maps and galleries of NPC images are even better.
Basic principle :
In-game, improvise the role-playing/stats for NPCs around your concepts : don’t bother defining everything in great detail ahead of time, most of it will just end up be unused (could be used in later campaigns, though). Keep notes about players goals/wishes, and work them into the concepts for futur scenarios.
In short : have the broad canvas in mind, and be able to improvise convincingly on an instants notice, then do the detail work on NPCs the players want to keep interacting with between scenarios.
This cuts down on the un-necessary work, allows you to adapt the world as you go and allows the players wishes to influence what the GM put into play.
January 27th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
I would say somewhere between 3 and 5. I usually draw the broad lines of the world and make some kind of world map, then I flesh out the starting point somewhat, have an idea for the focus of the first two or three adventures and the rest comes along during games or as I design the adventures.
Jens Alm’s last blog post..A Variant on Minions in D&D
January 28th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Welcome to Campaign Mastery Loz and Jens!
January 30th, 2009 at 6:45 am
@Loz: any particular things you look at doing during your short intro scenario to get the players’ feet wet? Do you expose the players to a bit of everything, or go deep into a world hook, or do something else?
January 30th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Since I know my players (e.g. have listen carefully to their comments/ wishes during the PC creation) I usually already have a good idea of what would make a good session for them. If I’ve gone the questionnaire route I’ve got maybe too much info :)
With this information, I can adapt the intro scenario (cameoing in NPCs mentioned in the Pcs backgrounds/concepts, for example).
The basic goal of the intro is to present the campaign initial thread to hook the players interest, so I’ll always look to emphasize threads of particular interest to them during the obligatory first step of briefly recapping of the world (two minutes of capsule history of the world, one minute of local history), then I briefly tell every player why their Pcs are at the initial gaming site (public info out loud, sneaky private stuff linked to their secret identities briefly by written note I had time to write during the creation process). Linking the PCs into a “living” world is *very* important.
Intro scenarios are generally one or two encounters to “federate” the PCs together, leading to an intrigue of some kind (where I include implications relevant to the PCs lives/secrets) and a whopping “cliff-hanger” to hook them into the fully-blown second scenario and give them that “Wow” feeling towards the end of play.
Minor XP award so that players can tweak the PCs (with me paying attention to the use of XP : signposts about Players worries / desires), and we’re off to the races….
Note the key thread of engaging the players emotions, giving them links to the campaign they should wish to explore, generating the feeling that the world lives and moves around them, and they can influence it. Positive emotions (e.g. That “Wow” feeling) for all. In short : *fun* gaming.
January 30th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
I’m probably about a 3. My best campaigns always seem to go…
1. Pick a premise (including a synopsis of the setting) and rules set.
2. Have the players create their characters.
3. Sketch out some vague thoughts for a master story tailored to the PCs’ motivations, with an important NPC or two.
4. Sketch out some vague thoughts for a more immediate story arc, with an important NPC or two.
Before each session, I then…
5. Write an opening script for the session (a la West End’s “Star Wars”) to begin in mid action, brainstorming what has set up this cool situation, and some directions and scenes it could all lead to. This is always where my hardest prep-work comes, trying to make sure that everyone’s imagination is fired up, and we can hit the ground running.
6. Sketch out some vague thoughts for the NPCs who’ll be critical to the session.
7. Grab some dice, sit everyone down, and let it roll.
Note, when I say I “sketch out” ideas, that can be literally true. A page of game notes for me is often a series of doodles meant to jog my memory for key people, places, and events.
When I do more prep than this, I tend to lose sight of the end goal of actually getting everyone together to play, and it becomes strictly design for design’s sake. And if I actually do get players to the table, I’m so involved in the creation that I overthink the action, and play begins to drag.
January 30th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
[Cherry-picking, here…]
I like that concept of planning an action sequence first and back-filling to set it up. Especially the part about planning for the “mid-action” point. I’ll try that.
I’m a bit more doubtful about leaving the master-story until the players have finished the PC creation purpose. I often find that with a master-story 70-90% in mind (the other 10-30% being, yes, adapting to profit from the player-characters) I can suggest a few ideas to players that would be helpful to both them and open up new possibilities for the campaign. Sometimes if they’re reeaally stuick for Disadvantage points (to pay for all those Avantages they’ve fallen in love with) I can say “You could take a Secret Disadvantage worth [Large number of points], and it’ll help me introduce certain elements but even your character won’t know what it is until it appears…” My players generally bite the bait (they do love a challenge!). Everybody wins : they get their beloved Advantages, I get a cast-iron justification for inserting campaign enemies into the PCs lives….
This ties back into the campaign preparation question because without a master-story / concept already in mind and thus knowing which villains are waiting in the wings I wouldn’t be able to make them this kind of offer.
Ditto for Players asking “would such-and-such a type of Character be playable in this campaign?” (they’re thoughtful people as well…) How could I answer them wihout knowing the mastery-story concept at that stage?
January 31st, 2009 at 1:21 am
@Loz and Leonard: those are great recipes. Mind if I put them in the e-zine?
@Leonard: “when I say I “sketch out” ideas, that can be literally true”
I agree. I used to wonder why I could remember my hand drawn maps much better than maps in modules. Then I read a few books and articles about the brain. ‘Course, it should have been obvious, but I’m slow that way. :)
@Loz: I’ve used in-media res a few times with great success. If you try it let us know how it goes.
January 31st, 2009 at 9:34 am
Thinking back I *have* actually used this planning technique in the past (but not consciously/systematically…) and it has worked. Nice one!
P.S. Blanket authorisation : Any and all of my gaming words/thoughts that can help and encourage other gamers can be quoted by anybody (caveat : in-context and with attribution of authorship, of course)
January 31st, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Thanks Loz.
To date, the best in-media res starts I’ve GM’d have:
* Jumped right to initiative rolls / combat
* Confused the heck out of the players
* Helped players get their bearings through clues and details as the encounter wore on.
It seems a combo of action and confusion hooks gamers right away. Much better than three hours of contemplative character creation.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:59 am
@John: Anything I post here I’m just hoping someone will find it helpful, so feel free to use it. :)
@Loz: I hadn’t consciously thought about it before, but my PCs-over-story-arc priority is a tactic I developed for trying to bring new players into the RPG fold (more precisely, convincing girls to join our group during my college days).
When running a game for veteran role-playing addicts, you’ve got a certain amount of the captive-audience factor at work. In order to get their fix, most of us will put up with quite a bit, and we’ll certainly try to meet the GM halfway. When you’ve got brand new players who’re just a little curious, and are there for the company more than anything, it’s a different ball game. When you’re highly motivated to get those folks hooked, you find yourself jettisoning everything that doesn’t specifically focus on THEM and their needs.
At the time, I was enthralled with Fantasy Hero, which was the first fantasy RPG that didn’t force specific archetypes onto the player characters. Like Champions, the superhero RPG that spawned it, it just provided players with a long shopping list of character options that could be combined and recombined into endless variations. I loved all the plotting and planning and mathematical juggling involved, but what the girls loved was hearing, “We’ve got a world full of fantasy adventure to explore. What do you want to be?” I’d get answers like, “An elderly weather-witch with a siamese cat for a familiar,” and when we sat down to play, I’d hand them a character sheet, along with a verbal overview of their abilities.
Since then, I’ve always been very conscious of reaching out to my players and making the whole experience about them.
February 1st, 2009 at 5:08 am
@Loz: To more specifically address your (rhetorical?) question, “… for Players asking ‘would such-and-such a type of Character be playable in this campaign?’ … How could I answer them wihout knowing the mastery-story concept at that stage?” I would say:
“How can I know what story concept would work for the campaign without knowing what characters I’ll have to make it playable for?” I see it as my job to adapt the campaign to them, not vice versa, as long as they’ll abide by the overall tone I want to set for the game.
February 1st, 2009 at 10:30 pm
re: leonard “I see it as my job to adapt the campaign to them, not vice versa,”.
I suspect we just have different degrees of willingnes to bend our campaigns to match the players players. I prefer to let players run up against dilemmas and either adapt their characters or the circumstances. I will adapt details to characters to provide more interesting encounters, but won’t dilute the concept/quality (and thus pleasure for *every*body at the table). Possibly we have differences in what we consider acceptable levels of “Artistic integrity vs desire to please a player”?
I definitely see this as a sliding-scale sort of thing. My campaigns generally have a theme (i.e. “Allegiances”) above and beyond the master story. Given this, I can judge if a Player’s Character concept will “mesh” with the flow of campaign or grate against the grain to everybody’s displeasure. Certainly the campaign will be adjusted somewhat in mid-flow according to the PC’s actions/player’s desires. But some PC concepts are just too “awkward” for it to work.
Real example of requiring prior knowledge of a master-story : A “Dragon-rider” sounds cool, but if your campaign involves extension teleportation networks / travel to Dragon-hating countries, the poor Dragon’s not going to be of any use to his rider very often… Better to warn the player before he spends more time on an unworkable concept.
Real example of requiring prior knowledge of the campaign theme : An utterly frivolous team-work-less Psionic has NO place in a serious “Super-heroic Resistance-fighters vs The Evil Super-villain Organisations who conquered the world twenty years ago” campaign. Lord, if only I’d seen that one coming in time….
Re: new players. Gotta love ’em, definitely want to encourage ’em (they’re the future of role-playong after all!) So “oh Yesyesyes!” They get special attention and preparation and leeway.
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:48 am
@Loz: Absolutely — one size does not fit all, when it comes to GMing styles. We all have our priorities. But you’re inventing a problem that doesn’t exist when you look at mine. If I leave the premise open enough that a player could say, “I want to play a dragon rider,” and I okay it, I just won’t create a story arc where a dragon rider doesn’t fit. I use the PCs themselves as the springboard for the story. It’s just a different sequence of brainstorming than you use, and the one that’s happened to work best for me personally over the years.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:59 pm
I think most people would say they are a 7. but different people have different definitions of that, and it can even fluctuate based on the campaign in question. My current game was a 7 when i started with 10 npc’s prepped, 10 factions and 4 regions total. The game i’m currently prepping is a 7 with 100 npc’s, 50 factions and 4 regions total. Part of that is experience and part is storyline. I know people who have a thousand npc’s prepped before they start, they are my definition of a 10 now. But at the time I’d say my current 7 was a 10. so it’s definitely a sliding scale.
October 2nd, 2013 at 5:07 pm
I completely agree, David – and would point out that there is a difference between campaign planning and campaign prep, and that this factor also makes a difference – especially what activities people put into which category.