I am running my first campaign in two weeks, and I’m mostly am prepared. My only worry now is my improv. Knowing my players, they will somehow, whether intentional or not, do something I haven’t thought about. An example, I talked to the Bard/rouge and I described to him the Dragonborn who is hiring the PCs to kill a large camp of kobolds. The problem? As a joke, he said “I’ll just stab him” I know he was joking, but that one Dragonborn is a level 20 warlock who is a major campaign villain. If my players do something REALLY random or unexpected, how can I keep the game going and make sure everyone is having fun?
If they stab a level 20 villain then they die? I don't see a problem there.
If something like that actually happened, then they can't just rely on your roleplaying and improv, they have to put some effort of playing as a well made character who isn't murder hobo or a one trick pony personality wise.
As for the actual question, if you learn enough DND stuff, you can eventually draw conclusions that make sense when improvising. You can take an instance of a player wanting to go and solve a puzzle by doing one thing you didn't predict, and roll with the rules or logic. Maybe they try and smash a trapped chest open. That's reasonable, because there's even an item called the sledge hammer, which has a description of used for opening chests.
If you know the story well enough in your head, you can usually find little on-ramps to get you back on course after a detour.
If the players decide they really need to spend their time investigating the garbage man on the street, even though you only mentioned him as local color, make up something embarrassing about him they can find really quickly, have a good laugh, realize they made a mistake and then you try and direct them back onto the path.
The three PCs are 14 level, so the warlock could possibly die if he’s in an unfavorable setting. but I’ll make sure that I’ll try to come up with a altered plot line
The first thing you should do with your players is lay down some ground rules. The relevant ones to your question that I use:
If you go around murdering or abusing people in the game, there will be a reaction in the game similar to the real world. It's not a video game where non-players will accept any abuse you throw at them.
If you do something that I'm not expecting, I may ask for a short break to give some thought as to what happens.
Usually a short break to think will give you some time to decide what happens. You'll find it gets easier as you spend more and more time thinking about the adventure and world you're presenting to them.
If your players suggest something crazy, usually go with it but warn them if there may be some negative consequence they should be aware of. Then find a way later to let them do that crazy thing. For example, my 10-year-old son responded to an NPC asking them about something with 'yo-momma'. I warned him that the person will not like being talked to that way, and he decided he was only joking about doing it. Later on, he met some thugs who insulted him, and they got into a yo-momma insult fight before drawing weapons. He loved it.
After a while your players should settle down and not react weirdly to NPCs.
The three PCs are 14 level, so the warlock could possibly die if he’s in an unfavorable setting. but I’ll make sure that I’ll try to come up with a altered plot line
Is this a campaign with experienced players? Running a first campaign with 14th level PCs right off the bat might be difficult if you and the players are not really, really familiar with their characters and capabilities.
Asking for a short break if something unexpected happens is excellent advice!
It sounds to me your "problem" are divided in two: 1. You are afraid the players might "abuse" their powers and 2. You are concerned about how to improvise.
For the first part - you really need to get the players on the same "page" as you. If the players just kill the guy for "fun" or because "they can" and you don't want that kind of play, then the good old talking together is good advice. You need to get along to the players what kind of play you want. It's completely fine for players to just kill that guy for fun if that's what kind of campaign you want. However, if you don't, find a way to tell the players that. You have however chosen one thing that complicate it a little - (it sounds like) you want to double cross the players because you want a twist: The guy who hired you is the real bad guy. That means that attacking him might be justified. My advice would be: don't play him as a non-chalant, I'm better that the world kind of guy. Somehow players often catch that such characters are suspicious or at least start to dislike them.
You could also consider to change him from the villain to a good guy for the sake of the first adventure. If he survives, decide after session one or two that, yes, he is the bad guy, if not have a plan ready for an alternative bad guy. (For me, just opening for that would probably have me RP the dragonborn in just a slightly different way, and the players would probably not start suspecting him from the start.)
For the second part - improvising.
First of all - be prepared to see large parts of your preparations to "go down the drain". Don't panic, and don't blame the players. If you don't get to use that cool NPC or that dungeon or whatever because the players chose to do something completely different. Let them do it! Store your NPC, dungeon, plot or whatever and use it in another campaign, a later session. The reason many of us (myself included) prefers table top RPG to computer based is this freedom. If I start to feel that the DM is just trying to railroad me, I at one point start to loose interest in the game.
One thing that might be of help to be ready for the unexpected is to flesh out a little bit more of the setting/world. Some interesting NPC's, some places, some plots and rumors. Like who's who in town. Doesn't need to be much more than some names and thoughts, but something that you can be able to use when the "unexpected" happens. Remember, it doesn't need to be that much. Just enough to get you to the end of that session. After the session, you can go home and flesh out whatever side-plot the players went for.
And a very concrete advice at the end. Prepare a few quite "generic" encounters you can use if things get "out of hand". I mean if your players decide to derail completely from your plans because they found that one thing you mentioned very interesting - have some encounters or small side quests you can run on them to get through that session, then go home and make a new plan.
And the final advice, just get on the horse. The impro is where the real fun starts. You have created this campaign, you are the master of the universe, you don't have a book or anything to keep you back. Make it fun :-)
If you keep your major NPCs motivations written down in front of you, and you play true to those, your improvisation from that character will come naturally. What does the NPC want, how is the NPC going to get what they want, can they get it without the PCs, and lastly... what is their nature. If the PCs dont do the thing that is expected of them, don't worry about the script, worry about the NPCs motivation. If the players thwart your plans, don't panic... they're still at the table and your plans will eventually come out, be patient. If your big bad dude at the table is killed, then that big bad dude's boss comes to town a week later, or they killed the wrong man - he was a patsy, or the really did kill the right guy but now his gang of 80 marauders are without a leader and are rampaging. If they don't go to the mountains where the apple seller told them to go, cool... transplant that cave to a gorge in the plains that they are travelling through. They'll never know.
Don't try and rush through NPC interactions so that you immediately deliver quest dialogue in the first 10 seconds. Just have a conversation in character that the NPC would want to have... what do they need to know to get what they want, are they a little uncertain about the PCs qualifications, or trustworthiness, or ability to play it cool under pressure. If you feeling pressured and wish to buy some time without looking like you're buying time, have the NPC ask the PCs an involved question, or have them be interrupted by another NPC and excuse themselves. While the PC is talking, listen for keywords that the PC says that are important to the NPC and react to them. PCs can smelled canned dialogue, so this technique will help you speak in character for your NPCs more naturally.
If a player says something silly like "I kill the NPC"... slow the action down. Did the NPC expect trouble, then initiative is rolled. If not, cool he player gets one action before... but, as he is pulling his sword, with murderous intent in his eye - describe the situation. Have the bartender and his son react with horror. Have onlookers gasp and clutch at their children's hands. Have the town guard in the corner reach for his whistle. Then ask, "Your sword is drawn... the NPC looks at you with a wry smile. what do you do?" If the PC goes through with it (unlikely unless the whole group want an alignment change)... or if they were super sneaky with the attack, then go with the flow... this is something new. The players will expect to have to play by the rules and not kill everyone in that tavern. If you're okay with your whole adventure turning into a chase by the law with super long consequences for many sessions to have... then savagely describe the murder of innocents as they hew their way out of the tavern. If the nature of the NPC is violent and he's powerful then show that in response to the player; have the NPC take the blow, get damage and laugh and shrug it off as they return the favour with a hit of their own - behind the screen I'd make sure the damage was high regardless of the roll include a shove for good measure, and have the NPC bellow something like "Good blow little one! How I miss sparring! Now get your ass off the floor, you're sitting in piss." There is very little that compares to the rush of not knowing what is going to happen, only to react to the actions of the players. A session that starts with an unexpected twist will keep you on your toes throughout. Just keep your head in the game. Put yourself at street level and keep looking for things that could conceivably occur in response to your players actions. If they have a lull in directing the course of events, fire up a complication or consequence to one of their prior actions, play the movie in your mind and just roll with it. Those for me are the most memorable RP stories. GLHF!
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Rule for drama. Roll for memories. If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
The players will do the unexpected and ruin all your plans.
The thing to remember is that the players don't know that what happens wasn't what you had planned. What seems to you like a disaster from behind the screen, looks like a well thought out adventure from their side.
I guess one of the things I (and I think most of the other people here) is trying to say is:
Don't try to plan for everything - don't get stuck into "if the players do this, then this will happen, if they do that, that will happen". Try to instead create some motivation and goals for some key NPC's so it's easy for YOU as the DM to react if the players do something you haven't expected. Focus on the GOALS of the NPC's, not the PLANS. If an NPC's goal is to kill the Lord, that doesn't change if the players do something unexpected, however, his plan on how to execute it might do. If all you have is a really intricate plan that requires the players to do a lot of "this and that" - well, you could have a problem. If what you have is an NPC that wants this to happen, you'll be able to RP him and change his plan on the fly if the players somehow thwarts it.
And retrospectively telling the story is key. HarbringerX has that completely right! Just make sure you don't destroy "everything" on the session, then go back home and connect the dots.
I think the best advice I can give is just to get into character. Any time they meet a new character, or you have to make one up on the spot, create one or two character traits (hair color, mannerisms, weird habits, etc), anything to make the character memorable or alive. Even if you don't reveal them right away, just keep them in mind. Then, when you have to roleplay, just ask yourself the important questions;
- What does my character want?
- Who are they?
- How do they act?
If you can answer things like this, you can be come the character.
Another tip I've found useful is understanding how to redress content. Let's say you've made the town butcher an NPC with vital information. You've planned him out, given him mannerism and appearance and some personality. They are vital and interesting and important. Then your party decides to buy some horses and go to the next town over. Okay, now everything you wrote about the butcher is now about the stable master. He's the same character, but now he's got a horse brush instead of a cleaver and is dressed in riding gear instead of a bloody apron.
Finally, I'd echo what others are saying; don't over plan. My DM in another game showed me his notes when he first started and now. The first few sessions, he had ten or fifteen pages of content for one session. The later notes barely covered a page and a half. World-building is key, but your players will screw up your plans regardless. Have vague beats to start and finish a session, and maybe a couple encounters ready to go in the middle, but your players will screw your plans regardless. You're a guide to a collective story, not the sole storyteller.
Another tip I've found useful is understanding how to redress content. Let's say you've made the town butcher an NPC with vital information. You've planned him out, given him mannerism and appearance and some personality. They are vital and interesting and important. Then your party decides to buy some horses and go to the next town over. Okay, now everything you wrote about the butcher is now about the stable master. He's the same character, but now he's got a horse brush instead of a cleaver and is dressed in riding gear instead of a bloody apron.
Just be careful of the Quantum Ogre. Player choice should still matter. In this example it may not matter as there can be multiple people who know the vital information, but don't railroad your players into a situation where their choices don't matter. It you simply have 'thing x' happen no matter which way they go, then if you do that enough they will start noticing that the story moves forward no matter what they do. Have your campaign react to the players' actions, not force events on them.
Just my opinion...
As for the prep work, what I found is that I'd be thinking about possible plots and events at various points in my day. The night before our session I'd jot down a few bullet points for the next session taken from all those ideas. But I still had all those unwritten ideas to draw on in a pinch. I found this more than anything else helped me quickly improvise if needed. I'd just pick a thought I'd had but never written down until then.
Just be careful of the Quantum Ogre. Player choice should still matter. In this example it may not matter as there can be multiple people who know the vital information, but don't railroad your players into a situation where their choices don't matter. It you simply have 'thing x' happen no matter which way they go, then if you do that enough they will start noticing that the story moves forward no matter what they do. Have your campaign react to the players' actions, not force events on them.
Yes, definitely, great point! I'm not saying railroad them, I'm just saying if something is vital to the story, or if you really like an idea you want to introduce, feel free to redress it to make sure that you can still fit it in.
One thing you probably want to discuss with your players is their "buy in" to the campaign. What kind of campaign do they want to play? Are they going to role play their characters and have they thought about their characters and what motivates them?
A player saying “I’ll just stab him” is probably not role playing their character. Why would their character want to randomly stab someone who is trying to hire them? Have they done something wrong? Are they insulting? Is the character a psychopath? Are they a sociopath? Are they chaotic evil and like to kill random strangers? Ask your players to consider whether they want to role play their characters. In many cases, if players figure out what their characters would actually do, then random killing of strangers is not usually high on the list.
If players decide to play characters like this then as the DM you need to make it clear that in this society there are consequences for actions. If you kill someone then they may have friends, if you kill a warlock then they may have a patron that becomes angry (a 20th level warlock could be quite a powerful minion for a patron and they may be rightfully very irritated if the characters randomly kill them). Clerics, paladins and other characters may have gods or other powerful beings invested in their well being. Even for high level characters there can be consequences which may well include deadly challenges. Explain this to the players so that they understand that your world is interconnected and that actions they take may have consequences, give examples, make it perfectly clear. In the end, it is the players choice and they may decide that going out in a blaze of fire might be more fun than finishing a campaign but the issues with the "murder hobo" style of play are usually lack of roleplaying and lack of understanding that there will likely be consequences.
Ok, I will. The bard/rouge who originally said this wants to a Chaotic Good, like his hearts in the right place but he’s still unpredictable. Thank you for your help.
OMG. So, my PCs are in Waterdeep. I just gave them a quest errand in Phandalin. Before they left, they decided they wanted to meet the Blackstaff (who they have decided is a racist perv thanks to the title). So as a "nice to meet you" present for the Blackstaff they went looking for a purveyor of, well, adult novelties and, well, bought a gigantic one to take to him as a gift. Oh, and the PCs are all level 2 at this point...
They were greeted at the Blackstaff Tower by an apprentice who *could have* easily Meteor Swarmed them on the spot. I haven't decided what the eventual reaction to this will be...
Someone said not to over prepare and that is spot on... No matter what you prepare the players will never follow in the direction you want them to. Honestly, that's what makes it so much fun for me as a DM. I typically have my main cities mapped out, some side quests that can be hooked in at any point. Extra names of NPC's listed down and the hook to bring the characters into the party together. One thing I'd say is let your players go the direction they want to and not try and railroad them to what you see happening. Listen to experienced dm's on youtube or podcasts, that helps me out quite a bit. You will get better with practice... main thing is to enjoy what you're doing and let the players have fun
One other good trick to do is to listen to your players when they are trying to figure out what's going on. They will give you plot ideas that you never thought of - change things around to make them true and in a few session when your players find it out they'll be amazed one of their guesses was right!
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I am running my first campaign in two weeks, and I’m mostly am prepared. My only worry now is my improv. Knowing my players, they will somehow, whether intentional or not, do something I haven’t thought about. An example, I talked to the Bard/rouge and I described to him the Dragonborn who is hiring the PCs to kill a large camp of kobolds. The problem? As a joke, he said “I’ll just stab him” I know he was joking, but that one Dragonborn is a level 20 warlock who is a major campaign villain. If my players do something REALLY random or unexpected, how can I keep the game going and make sure everyone is having fun?
If they stab a level 20 villain then they die? I don't see a problem there.
If something like that actually happened, then they can't just rely on your roleplaying and improv, they have to put some effort of playing as a well made character who isn't murder hobo or a one trick pony personality wise.
As for the actual question, if you learn enough DND stuff, you can eventually draw conclusions that make sense when improvising. You can take an instance of a player wanting to go and solve a puzzle by doing one thing you didn't predict, and roll with the rules or logic. Maybe they try and smash a trapped chest open. That's reasonable, because there's even an item called the sledge hammer, which has a description of used for opening chests.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
If you know the story well enough in your head, you can usually find little on-ramps to get you back on course after a detour.
If the players decide they really need to spend their time investigating the garbage man on the street, even though you only mentioned him as local color, make up something embarrassing about him they can find really quickly, have a good laugh, realize they made a mistake and then you try and direct them back onto the path.
The three PCs are 14 level, so the warlock could possibly die if he’s in an unfavorable setting. but I’ll make sure that I’ll try to come up with a altered plot line
I will make sure to plan a few ideas if they go down the wrong path plot-wise
The first thing you should do with your players is lay down some ground rules. The relevant ones to your question that I use:
Usually a short break to think will give you some time to decide what happens. You'll find it gets easier as you spend more and more time thinking about the adventure and world you're presenting to them.
If your players suggest something crazy, usually go with it but warn them if there may be some negative consequence they should be aware of. Then find a way later to let them do that crazy thing. For example, my 10-year-old son responded to an NPC asking them about something with 'yo-momma'. I warned him that the person will not like being talked to that way, and he decided he was only joking about doing it. Later on, he met some thugs who insulted him, and they got into a yo-momma insult fight before drawing weapons. He loved it.
After a while your players should settle down and not react weirdly to NPCs.
I was about to talk to my PCs anyways, so I’ll tell them this as well. Thank you
Is this a campaign with experienced players? Running a first campaign with 14th level PCs right off the bat might be difficult if you and the players are not really, really familiar with their characters and capabilities.
Asking for a short break if something unexpected happens is excellent advice!
It sounds to me your "problem" are divided in two: 1. You are afraid the players might "abuse" their powers and 2. You are concerned about how to improvise.
For the first part - you really need to get the players on the same "page" as you. If the players just kill the guy for "fun" or because "they can" and you don't want that kind of play, then the good old talking together is good advice. You need to get along to the players what kind of play you want. It's completely fine for players to just kill that guy for fun if that's what kind of campaign you want. However, if you don't, find a way to tell the players that. You have however chosen one thing that complicate it a little - (it sounds like) you want to double cross the players because you want a twist: The guy who hired you is the real bad guy. That means that attacking him might be justified. My advice would be: don't play him as a non-chalant, I'm better that the world kind of guy. Somehow players often catch that such characters are suspicious or at least start to dislike them.
You could also consider to change him from the villain to a good guy for the sake of the first adventure. If he survives, decide after session one or two that, yes, he is the bad guy, if not have a plan ready for an alternative bad guy. (For me, just opening for that would probably have me RP the dragonborn in just a slightly different way, and the players would probably not start suspecting him from the start.)
For the second part - improvising.
First of all - be prepared to see large parts of your preparations to "go down the drain". Don't panic, and don't blame the players. If you don't get to use that cool NPC or that dungeon or whatever because the players chose to do something completely different. Let them do it! Store your NPC, dungeon, plot or whatever and use it in another campaign, a later session. The reason many of us (myself included) prefers table top RPG to computer based is this freedom. If I start to feel that the DM is just trying to railroad me, I at one point start to loose interest in the game.
One thing that might be of help to be ready for the unexpected is to flesh out a little bit more of the setting/world. Some interesting NPC's, some places, some plots and rumors. Like who's who in town. Doesn't need to be much more than some names and thoughts, but something that you can be able to use when the "unexpected" happens. Remember, it doesn't need to be that much. Just enough to get you to the end of that session. After the session, you can go home and flesh out whatever side-plot the players went for.
And a very concrete advice at the end. Prepare a few quite "generic" encounters you can use if things get "out of hand". I mean if your players decide to derail completely from your plans because they found that one thing you mentioned very interesting - have some encounters or small side quests you can run on them to get through that session, then go home and make a new plan.
And the final advice, just get on the horse. The impro is where the real fun starts. You have created this campaign, you are the master of the universe, you don't have a book or anything to keep you back. Make it fun :-)
Ludo ergo sum!
If you keep your major NPCs motivations written down in front of you, and you play true to those, your improvisation from that character will come naturally. What does the NPC want, how is the NPC going to get what they want, can they get it without the PCs, and lastly... what is their nature. If the PCs dont do the thing that is expected of them, don't worry about the script, worry about the NPCs motivation.
If the players thwart your plans, don't panic... they're still at the table and your plans will eventually come out, be patient. If your big bad dude at the table is killed, then that big bad dude's boss comes to town a week later, or they killed the wrong man - he was a patsy, or the really did kill the right guy but now his gang of 80 marauders are without a leader and are rampaging. If they don't go to the mountains where the apple seller told them to go, cool... transplant that cave to a gorge in the plains that they are travelling through. They'll never know.
Don't try and rush through NPC interactions so that you immediately deliver quest dialogue in the first 10 seconds. Just have a conversation in character that the NPC would want to have... what do they need to know to get what they want, are they a little uncertain about the PCs qualifications, or trustworthiness, or ability to play it cool under pressure. If you feeling pressured and wish to buy some time without looking like you're buying time, have the NPC ask the PCs an involved question, or have them be interrupted by another NPC and excuse themselves. While the PC is talking, listen for keywords that the PC says that are important to the NPC and react to them. PCs can smelled canned dialogue, so this technique will help you speak in character for your NPCs more naturally.
If a player says something silly like "I kill the NPC"... slow the action down. Did the NPC expect trouble, then initiative is rolled. If not, cool he player gets one action before... but, as he is pulling his sword, with murderous intent in his eye - describe the situation. Have the bartender and his son react with horror. Have onlookers gasp and clutch at their children's hands. Have the town guard in the corner reach for his whistle. Then ask, "Your sword is drawn... the NPC looks at you with a wry smile. what do you do?" If the PC goes through with it (unlikely unless the whole group want an alignment change)... or if they were super sneaky with the attack, then go with the flow... this is something new. The players will expect to have to play by the rules and not kill everyone in that tavern. If you're okay with your whole adventure turning into a chase by the law with super long consequences for many sessions to have... then savagely describe the murder of innocents as they hew their way out of the tavern.
If the nature of the NPC is violent and he's powerful then show that in response to the player; have the NPC take the blow, get damage and laugh and shrug it off as they return the favour with a hit of their own - behind the screen I'd make sure the damage was high regardless of the roll include a shove for good measure, and have the NPC bellow something like "Good blow little one! How I miss sparring! Now get your ass off the floor, you're sitting in piss."
There is very little that compares to the rush of not knowing what is going to happen, only to react to the actions of the players. A session that starts with an unexpected twist will keep you on your toes throughout. Just keep your head in the game. Put yourself at street level and keep looking for things that could conceivably occur in response to your players actions. If they have a lull in directing the course of events, fire up a complication or consequence to one of their prior actions, play the movie in your mind and just roll with it. Those for me are the most memorable RP stories.
GLHF!
Rule for drama. Roll for memories.
If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
Yeah, I second everything people have said.
The thing to remember is that the players don't know that what happens wasn't what you had planned. What seems to you like a disaster from behind the screen, looks like a well thought out adventure from their side.
I guess one of the things I (and I think most of the other people here) is trying to say is:
Don't try to plan for everything - don't get stuck into "if the players do this, then this will happen, if they do that, that will happen". Try to instead create some motivation and goals for some key NPC's so it's easy for YOU as the DM to react if the players do something you haven't expected. Focus on the GOALS of the NPC's, not the PLANS. If an NPC's goal is to kill the Lord, that doesn't change if the players do something unexpected, however, his plan on how to execute it might do. If all you have is a really intricate plan that requires the players to do a lot of "this and that" - well, you could have a problem. If what you have is an NPC that wants this to happen, you'll be able to RP him and change his plan on the fly if the players somehow thwarts it.
And retrospectively telling the story is key. HarbringerX has that completely right! Just make sure you don't destroy "everything" on the session, then go back home and connect the dots.
Ludo ergo sum!
I think the best advice I can give is just to get into character. Any time they meet a new character, or you have to make one up on the spot, create one or two character traits (hair color, mannerisms, weird habits, etc), anything to make the character memorable or alive. Even if you don't reveal them right away, just keep them in mind. Then, when you have to roleplay, just ask yourself the important questions;
- What does my character want?
- Who are they?
- How do they act?
If you can answer things like this, you can be come the character.
Another tip I've found useful is understanding how to redress content. Let's say you've made the town butcher an NPC with vital information. You've planned him out, given him mannerism and appearance and some personality. They are vital and interesting and important. Then your party decides to buy some horses and go to the next town over. Okay, now everything you wrote about the butcher is now about the stable master. He's the same character, but now he's got a horse brush instead of a cleaver and is dressed in riding gear instead of a bloody apron.
Finally, I'd echo what others are saying; don't over plan. My DM in another game showed me his notes when he first started and now. The first few sessions, he had ten or fifteen pages of content for one session. The later notes barely covered a page and a half. World-building is key, but your players will screw up your plans regardless. Have vague beats to start and finish a session, and maybe a couple encounters ready to go in the middle, but your players will screw your plans regardless. You're a guide to a collective story, not the sole storyteller.
Just be careful of the Quantum Ogre. Player choice should still matter. In this example it may not matter as there can be multiple people who know the vital information, but don't railroad your players into a situation where their choices don't matter. It you simply have 'thing x' happen no matter which way they go, then if you do that enough they will start noticing that the story moves forward no matter what they do. Have your campaign react to the players' actions, not force events on them.
Just my opinion...
As for the prep work, what I found is that I'd be thinking about possible plots and events at various points in my day. The night before our session I'd jot down a few bullet points for the next session taken from all those ideas. But I still had all those unwritten ideas to draw on in a pinch. I found this more than anything else helped me quickly improvise if needed. I'd just pick a thought I'd had but never written down until then.
Yes, definitely, great point! I'm not saying railroad them, I'm just saying if something is vital to the story, or if you really like an idea you want to introduce, feel free to redress it to make sure that you can still fit it in.
One thing you probably want to discuss with your players is their "buy in" to the campaign. What kind of campaign do they want to play? Are they going to role play their characters and have they thought about their characters and what motivates them?
A player saying “I’ll just stab him” is probably not role playing their character. Why would their character want to randomly stab someone who is trying to hire them? Have they done something wrong? Are they insulting? Is the character a psychopath? Are they a sociopath? Are they chaotic evil and like to kill random strangers? Ask your players to consider whether they want to role play their characters. In many cases, if players figure out what their characters would actually do, then random killing of strangers is not usually high on the list.
If players decide to play characters like this then as the DM you need to make it clear that in this society there are consequences for actions. If you kill someone then they may have friends, if you kill a warlock then they may have a patron that becomes angry (a 20th level warlock could be quite a powerful minion for a patron and they may be rightfully very irritated if the characters randomly kill them). Clerics, paladins and other characters may have gods or other powerful beings invested in their well being. Even for high level characters there can be consequences which may well include deadly challenges. Explain this to the players so that they understand that your world is interconnected and that actions they take may have consequences, give examples, make it perfectly clear. In the end, it is the players choice and they may decide that going out in a blaze of fire might be more fun than finishing a campaign but the issues with the "murder hobo" style of play are usually lack of roleplaying and lack of understanding that there will likely be consequences.
Ok, I will. The bard/rouge who originally said this wants to a Chaotic Good, like his hearts in the right place but he’s still unpredictable. Thank you for your help.
OMG. So, my PCs are in Waterdeep. I just gave them a quest errand in Phandalin. Before they left, they decided they wanted to meet the Blackstaff (who they have decided is a racist perv thanks to the title). So as a "nice to meet you" present for the Blackstaff they went looking for a purveyor of, well, adult novelties and, well, bought a gigantic one to take to him as a gift. Oh, and the PCs are all level 2 at this point...
They were greeted at the Blackstaff Tower by an apprentice who *could have* easily Meteor Swarmed them on the spot. I haven't decided what the eventual reaction to this will be...
So yes, be ready for ANYTHING.
Someone said not to over prepare and that is spot on... No matter what you prepare the players will never follow in the direction you want them to. Honestly, that's what makes it so much fun for me as a DM. I typically have my main cities mapped out, some side quests that can be hooked in at any point. Extra names of NPC's listed down and the hook to bring the characters into the party together. One thing I'd say is let your players go the direction they want to and not try and railroad them to what you see happening. Listen to experienced dm's on youtube or podcasts, that helps me out quite a bit. You will get better with practice... main thing is to enjoy what you're doing and let the players have fun
One other good trick to do is to listen to your players when they are trying to figure out what's going on. They will give you plot ideas that you never thought of - change things around to make them true and in a few session when your players find it out they'll be amazed one of their guesses was right!