Hey folks! I've DMed one-shots before and humor games like Kobolds Ate My Baby. I've been playing D&D for many years, and had the chance to create a world and a story that I cared about and that my players seem to care about, too. I had a few good ideas, so I built what I felt was a layered world with cool characters. The world building went great, but the plot is moving too fast. It's almost like my pacing is off. Instead of presenting a problem or issue and allowing my players to move through that obstacle, I also then add more obstacles, out of a sense of "needing to move forward" or creating intrigue or a push and pull. In a political intrigue sense, not a harrowing dungeon crawl that is annoying and unable to be gotten through. I just...feel that maybe I put in too many issues, and have overwhelmed my characters, but yet, since I've gotten this story through to a point where the cat is a bit out of the bag, I don't feel I can walk back some of the issues that have come up that are important to the plot.
Any ideas for slowing your roll in the own campaign, knowing how to throw just enough towards your characters so they aren't bored, but not so much that they don't get overwhelmed? I don't have combat every session, but we we have a lot of searches, lots of gossip, some cut scenes to describe what is happening to other NPC's that may or may not be red herrings or foes. We are a role play heavy group and it's had some great, shining moments.
I think before I can answer you, I'd need to have some more specifics about the story and plot and why you feel it has gone too quickly.
Just from your description, it sounds like as a DM, you had your heart set on the story going through a series of elevating steps, and the players may have skipped around and done things you didn't expect. That's actually OK - it's part of D&D - and the DM's job is to roll with it and figure out, now that the players have done this, what happens next?
The traditional way to slow things down is to throw a side-quest at them to distract them, but that sounds like it will only make your problem worse, based on your post -- again, without any details it is hard to know.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
What I do is create 2-3 obvious things they could be doing (Hooks) at a time. This way it isn't overwhelming or confusing yet there is still a choice to be made about where to spend your efforts, and engaging in the sense that as they tackle one mission the other 1-2 proceed without them, which makes them feel like their choices are meaningful.
As a DM I like to present my players with 2 obvious options and then let a chicken loose.
Yeah, let a chicken loose. Not actual livestock, mind you, but allow for the kinds of weird stuff players go looking for and be ready to roll with it. I usually write 3 adventure ideas out for a session, two of which should be from opposite points of view. The third should be only tangentially related to the start of the other two but the plot gets them to the same place, story wise.
Opposite points of view would be like a jailbreak or heist adventure with the players knowing another team of adventurers is trying to steal the same thing or kill the guy they’re trying to get out of jail.
The chicken in that scenario was a Green Hag that appeared as an old woman who appealed to the group to help her get her sister out of a workhouse. The end of all three adventure lines is a handoff of goods or prisoners in the warehouse district that goes horribly wrong.
What I did as a Dungeon Master was give my party two options, both of which I was prepared for and I had a third one primed up and ready to go that led to the same lead in for the next sessions adventure.
So, after my wall of text, my advice is this, don’t have more than two obvious plot threads, and be ready for the players to try and dodge them by having something weird and outlandish ready to go in their place that ends in the same spot you wanted them to be anyways.
Based on what you describe, my impression is you need to come up with some curve balls for the side plots. Reasons for the plots to move to the background for a bit so that you can focus on just a few. That way, they can reemerge when you need them. A conniving lord is called away from court due to a peasant rebellion but returns after quelling it. A plague hits the army of the enemy causing them to postpone their invasion. The plot doesnt go away but rather is put into the background.
Or just resolve some of the side plots to simplify your world. A few adventures would do it...
It's a bit of a shoehorn, but this is something where a "mastermind" would come in handy. All these seemingly unrelated (or just various) events have one source. Defeat that source and all the problems under it come undone. It's yet "one more issue" on the pile, but it can start to pull everything back from being excessive once they know that this one individual/group is the source of all their problems.
This should be something the players can figure out as they investigate each one, of course. Either they notice the same individual has been at every event, or they discover correspondence from someone with the same initials has been writing letters to individuals involved in each plot, or maybe even they meet the mastermind who lets on they know a little more than they should about some of the events.
It seems like a good time to involve a character backstory interruption-side smaller plot. The players won't get as bored as it should get them feeling more directly involved in the campaign as it is directed at a specific character...then you can weave it into the main plot or keep parallel for a bit or switch to another PCs background getting in the middle of things...
If you have too many ideas out there have NPCs take some of the board, permanently or temporarily. The party could get orders from a guildmaster, lord, king, etc. giving them priority to the path of your choice. Town guards, another adventuring party, a new law or ordinance, dreams or visions all can help steer them. Some of the PCs may have obligations to family, religion, lord, oaths etc you can use to steer or pace as well. Put a timeline on something to get their attention to that sideplot or back towards the main story...
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Hey folks! I've DMed one-shots before and humor games like Kobolds Ate My Baby. I've been playing D&D for many years, and had the chance to create a world and a story that I cared about and that my players seem to care about, too. I had a few good ideas, so I built what I felt was a layered world with cool characters. The world building went great, but the plot is moving too fast. It's almost like my pacing is off. Instead of presenting a problem or issue and allowing my players to move through that obstacle, I also then add more obstacles, out of a sense of "needing to move forward" or creating intrigue or a push and pull. In a political intrigue sense, not a harrowing dungeon crawl that is annoying and unable to be gotten through. I just...feel that maybe I put in too many issues, and have overwhelmed my characters, but yet, since I've gotten this story through to a point where the cat is a bit out of the bag, I don't feel I can walk back some of the issues that have come up that are important to the plot.
Any ideas for slowing your roll in the own campaign, knowing how to throw just enough towards your characters so they aren't bored, but not so much that they don't get overwhelmed? I don't have combat every session, but we we have a lot of searches, lots of gossip, some cut scenes to describe what is happening to other NPC's that may or may not be red herrings or foes. We are a role play heavy group and it's had some great, shining moments.
Thank you so much in advance!
I think before I can answer you, I'd need to have some more specifics about the story and plot and why you feel it has gone too quickly.
Just from your description, it sounds like as a DM, you had your heart set on the story going through a series of elevating steps, and the players may have skipped around and done things you didn't expect. That's actually OK - it's part of D&D - and the DM's job is to roll with it and figure out, now that the players have done this, what happens next?
The traditional way to slow things down is to throw a side-quest at them to distract them, but that sounds like it will only make your problem worse, based on your post -- again, without any details it is hard to know.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
What I do is create 2-3 obvious things they could be doing (Hooks) at a time. This way it isn't overwhelming or confusing yet there is still a choice to be made about where to spend your efforts, and engaging in the sense that as they tackle one mission the other 1-2 proceed without them, which makes them feel like their choices are meaningful.
Hopefully this answers your question somewhat?
As a DM I like to present my players with 2 obvious options and then let a chicken loose.
Yeah, let a chicken loose. Not actual livestock, mind you, but allow for the kinds of weird stuff players go looking for and be ready to roll with it. I usually write 3 adventure ideas out for a session, two of which should be from opposite points of view. The third should be only tangentially related to the start of the other two but the plot gets them to the same place, story wise.
Opposite points of view would be like a jailbreak or heist adventure with the players knowing another team of adventurers is trying to steal the same thing or kill the guy they’re trying to get out of jail.
The chicken in that scenario was a Green Hag that appeared as an old woman who appealed to the group to help her get her sister out of a workhouse. The end of all three adventure lines is a handoff of goods or prisoners in the warehouse district that goes horribly wrong.
What I did as a Dungeon Master was give my party two options, both of which I was prepared for and I had a third one primed up and ready to go that led to the same lead in for the next sessions adventure.
So, after my wall of text, my advice is this, don’t have more than two obvious plot threads, and be ready for the players to try and dodge them by having something weird and outlandish ready to go in their place that ends in the same spot you wanted them to be anyways.
Based on what you describe, my impression is you need to come up with some curve balls for the side plots. Reasons for the plots to move to the background for a bit so that you can focus on just a few. That way, they can reemerge when you need them. A conniving lord is called away from court due to a peasant rebellion but returns after quelling it. A plague hits the army of the enemy causing them to postpone their invasion. The plot doesnt go away but rather is put into the background.
Or just resolve some of the side plots to simplify your world. A few adventures would do it...
It's a bit of a shoehorn, but this is something where a "mastermind" would come in handy. All these seemingly unrelated (or just various) events have one source. Defeat that source and all the problems under it come undone. It's yet "one more issue" on the pile, but it can start to pull everything back from being excessive once they know that this one individual/group is the source of all their problems.
This should be something the players can figure out as they investigate each one, of course. Either they notice the same individual has been at every event, or they discover correspondence from someone with the same initials has been writing letters to individuals involved in each plot, or maybe even they meet the mastermind who lets on they know a little more than they should about some of the events.
It seems like a good time to involve a character backstory interruption-side smaller plot. The players won't get as bored as it should get them feeling more directly involved in the campaign as it is directed at a specific character...then you can weave it into the main plot or keep parallel for a bit or switch to another PCs background getting in the middle of things...
If you have too many ideas out there have NPCs take some of the board, permanently or temporarily. The party could get orders from a guildmaster, lord, king, etc. giving them priority to the path of your choice. Town guards, another adventuring party, a new law or ordinance, dreams or visions all can help steer them. Some of the PCs may have obligations to family, religion, lord, oaths etc you can use to steer or pace as well. Put a timeline on something to get their attention to that sideplot or back towards the main story...