So this post might be long as I am going to explain my idea for a game I am going to run to my friends.
First of I am new here and a first time DM (almost I ran 2 one shots to the same group of friends before) . I am building my first game and I would like any ideas any input or any advice you could give me. Since I am so new I might overlook some obivious things so I am going to write here the basics what I have so far and any help or comments you can give me would be much apriciated. This game is not going to be very long maybe 3-6 sessions or something like that.
Act 1 so to campaign starts in a ship where all of the party is sailing form a continent to another. in the night the ship is hit by a mysterious forcet and it sinks. The party blacks out and wake up on a beach. the party finds out they are on an remote island with one small city or a town in the western part of the island. The town is populated mainly by humans and dwarfs and the city was founded by a mining company who came to this island because it has a huge mountain in the north where they are mining very rare and valuable minerals. the party finds out that no one can at this point leave the island because of the mysterious force that hit the party earlier so no boats can be used because of that. The party will have some time roam around the city and get a feeling for it. Everything is very expensive as no more ships can reach the island and bring more suplies and are running a bit low on food and have to rely on what can be found on the island and what they have stored. Anyway the party is then summoned to meet the head of the mining company a man named Babar and he´s two bodie guards or generals Zino (who is a human mage and the cool headed intelligent one) And Sakir ( A more war mongering hot head)) The party is asked to investigate one of the many mines the company has on the mountains. Thiis mine is a bit further than the others and there is a suspission it might have been attacked by goblins as they had some encounters with goblins before. they travel to the mine find bodies of miners fight some goblins but the twist is deep in the mine they fight a moster (something undead have not decided yet) and report back to Babar.
So thats the basic idea of my act 1 I am fully avare they might not do the quest for Babar and do something completely else but then I have to just freestyle DM I guess :D
Act 2 So I was thinking the players find out that the mining company and the town cut off from the main land so they cannot sell the valuable minerals now and cannot receive additional supplies from the main land. so the mining company are convinced that the mysterious force at the sea sinking ships is caused by the natives of the island who live in the western part of the island and the players are tasked to travel there. The players need to cross the middle part of the island that is made up of a deep forests and swamp and is filled with dangers. Also there is a rumor going around that a green dragon lives in the swamp (the dragon is actually a wyvern not a dragon) So the act 2 would be preparing for the travel and travelling trough. Also some politics may happen with Zino and Shakir where Zino wants a peacfull conclusion with the natives and continuation of the mining operations and Shakir is convinced the natives are trying to starve and the attack the mining company and the town and wants to stop the mining for the most part and have workers be ready for battle with the natives.
Act 3 would be something with the natives peacfull or not..... But the conclusion is that the natives are not responsible for the mysterious forces sinking ships. (this part I have to still fill with stuff)
Act 4 would be the realization that Zino has been behind the mysterious force at the sea. He has done this because he knows deep in the mountais there is a chamber with a powerfull necromaners artifact (call back to the first act where the party fought undead in the mines) and is trying to isolate the island as long as he gets the artifact.
So act 3 and 4 are still in the works as you can see and I have a lot more minor ideas for minor characters and all that but here is the "meat" of the game that I have so far!
Any ideas any helpful hints or any input at all would be much appreciated
Why does the town head seek out the party in act 1 if they are new to the island? It might be best if he just posts a reward for investigating the mine and you take advantage that everything is so expensive to have the characters be broke and need to money for supplies.
I think having a well defined act 1 and 2 is good at this stage. You've set the board with pieces, it seems you have a good handle on the motives of the various npc's, so for the next step this is where I find it's useful to stop thinking like a DM telling a story, and start thinking specifically from the perspective of your main villain, as they're the one specifically driving the plot at the start.
Presumably, this villain has a plan, and presumably the events of act 1 and 2 are that plan going off uninterrupted. What would that plan look like if the heroes never got involved? What resources do they have at their disposal? What are they and aren't they willing to do to accomplish their ends? What are the steps the villain would have worked out to get them from point A to World Domination (or whatever their end goal is)? You don't need to have the whole plan mapped out since eventually the players are going to throw a monkey wrench into one of the steps and then the villain will need to change their plan to account for them in the future, but what are like the next three steps of the plan that the players will be encountering and messing with?
Once you have that figured out, either think of ways the players are likely to interfere with The Plan, or sit back and watch the players in game and see how their actions affect The Plan, and then think from the villain's perspective "how does this effect my goal? What do I do about it?"
I think having a well defined act 1 and 2 is good at this stage. You've set the board with pieces, it seems you have a good handle on the motives of the various npc's, so for the next step this is where I find it's useful to stop thinking like a DM telling a story, and start thinking specifically from the perspective of your main villain, as they're the one specifically driving the plot at the start.
I agree with this sentiment. Act 1 should be pretty fleshed out, at least in terms of the main story beats. Act 2 might be an outline at this point because the choices the players make in Act 1 can (will) change what you think you have lined up for Act 2, so there is no reason to get too much in the weeds predicting the future.
So this post might be long as I am going to explain my idea for a game I am going to run to my friends.
First of I am new here and a first time DM (almost I ran 2 one shots to the same group of friends before) . I am building my first game and I would like any ideas any input or any advice you could give me. Since I am so new I might overlook some obivious things so I am going to write here the basics what I have so far and any help or comments you can give me would be much apriciated. This game is not going to be very long maybe 3-6 sessions or something like that.
Why does the town head seek out the party in act 1 if they are new to the island? It might be best if he just posts a reward for investigating the mine and you take advantage that everything is so expensive to have the characters be broke and need to money for supplies.
I think having a well defined act 1 and 2 is good at this stage. You've set the board with pieces, it seems you have a good handle on the motives of the various npc's, so for the next step this is where I find it's useful to stop thinking like a DM telling a story, and start thinking specifically from the perspective of your main villain, as they're the one specifically driving the plot at the start.
Presumably, this villain has a plan, and presumably the events of act 1 and 2 are that plan going off uninterrupted. What would that plan look like if the heroes never got involved? What resources do they have at their disposal? What are they and aren't they willing to do to accomplish their ends? What are the steps the villain would have worked out to get them from point A to World Domination (or whatever their end goal is)? You don't need to have the whole plan mapped out since eventually the players are going to throw a monkey wrench into one of the steps and then the villain will need to change their plan to account for them in the future, but what are like the next three steps of the plan that the players will be encountering and messing with?
Once you have that figured out, either think of ways the players are likely to interfere with The Plan, or sit back and watch the players in game and see how their actions affect The Plan, and then think from the villain's perspective "how does this effect my goal? What do I do about it?"
I agree with this sentiment. Act 1 should be pretty fleshed out, at least in terms of the main story beats. Act 2 might be an outline at this point because the choices the players make in Act 1 can (will) change what you think you have lined up for Act 2, so there is no reason to get too much in the weeds predicting the future.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Thanks for all the tips so far! this is excatly what I was looking for and really helpful!