Hi guy's; a new DM here with a question regarding my first homebrew
Basically I have been working on a homebrew world and so far its been going great! Apart from the main city the players will start in. I have alot of modular towns islands etc they wont know about than can be plopped into locations as things progress and are needed.
My main question is this.
How do I create the "missions/story arcs" that my players may or may not embark on and how do I scale these in terms of the Big Arc.
I have a few arc ideas but not sure if im going to big an arc to quickly and not letting things grow!
So I guess to sum it up Im having trouble deciphering the difference between what should be the over arcing story and what the smaller arcs tied into ot should be.
It sounds like your assumption here is that you have control over how the story and the Adventure is going to unfold, so you want to structure it like a novel.
It's unlikely that you have that much Narrative control, since you can't perfectly predict what the Players will do.
The scale/importance of an Adventure arc is likely to be highly influenced - if not outright determined - by what your Players focus on. You might think that this small throw-away side-quest you developed is of little importance, only to have your Players fixate on it totally, while they ignore the conflicts and events you thought were going to be the focus of your Campaign.
Design your Adventure arcs, throw out the hooks, see how your Party bites, and where they pull the line :) They'll tell you the scale they want that arc to be.
RPGs are a weird mix from the perspective of design. You need to design, since planning and design leads to better polished material, and a better game experience, but you also need to be completely flexible. Finding your personal balance, where you plan just enough and in such a way that you can "roll with the punches" of your Player antics and be able to either design-on-the-fly ( not the same as just making s%#$ up as you go! ) or - better yet - be able to predict with reasonable accuracy the 3-4 most likely paths the Players will take next and design polished material one-step-ahead of them - finding that balance takes practice.
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
You should ask your players what kind of campaign they want to play. Stop the war, rescue the princess, hunt for the artifact, etc. Personally I like to give a few choices that I’d be interested in running, and let them pick one of those so everyone is happy with what we’re doing.
This should happen at your session 0, where you discuss overall expectations both for the style of play, and for how players will behave, and anything else you want to throw in, like restrictions on specific races, or classes, what books you’ll allow and so on. Do that first and you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches later.
And I can’t agree with Vedexent enough. Remember you’re not writing a book, the players need to have control over where they go. You can subtly put up guardrails to stop them going too crazy, but sometimes they’ll fixate on the shiny thing you meant to be just a one-off.
I understand the players wont necessarily bite on quests so in that regard is it necessary to have an over arching quest before I start the campaign or will the players create that as they go along? And then what I create should be modular campaign hooks that I can implement at seperate stages as required? :P
I don’t think it would spoil the surprise. Just because you know a movie is a thriller doesn’t mean you know the twist at the end, or know the cool characters. But maybe I wasn’t clear; I didn’t mean tell them the plot, just give them broad options. If all they want is to fight monsters, and your plan is for palace intrigue with few combats, everyone will be disappointed. I meant get everyone invested in the same general idea. The ideas they throw out can help inspire the plot you plan, and ideally creates a feedback loop where everyone gets something in at the end.
It can also help with them building realistic characters. If someone picks a sailor background, they’ll be disappointed in a landlocked campaign. If you plan is for them to be in a forest, and the ranger chooses desert as a favored terrain, that will throw them off, too. Some baseline information is good for everyone.
Ah ok... i understand! Like a very vauge mission brief so the players can prep there characters to best suit what they think they will encounter and so I know what to focus my plot hooks around. I.e combat or narrative etc etc :)
Definitely ask the Players what kind of game they want to play. Remember though, you are a member of the game as well, so don't forget to accommodate your own wants as well.
I don't think it's possible to spoil the ending, because no one knows what the ending will be - not even you.
You absolutely can - and probably ( 90%+ ) should - have an overarching central conflict, or dramatic question that will shape the campaign - e.g. can the Players oppose the Great Elder Frost Dragon of the North and stop her before she lays waste to the Kingdom of Elbonia? - but how that question is answered, or even how it is explored, is something you create in conjunction with the Players.
Maybe they decide to quest for mystical artifacts of an ancient and legendary order of Dragon slayers, and fight the Dragon directly. Maybe they find a way to "buy off" the Dragon, by locating the thing she wants more than ravaging the Kingdom. Maybe they go on a totally separate quest to do a great service to Sultan of the Efreet, ruler of the City of Brass, so that when the Dragon comes to Elbonia she's met with an army of fire elementals. You won't know, until you play it out.
There are so many potential options and paths, you can't possibly predict how it will go - so you can't spoil the ending ( and remember, it's always possible for the Party to lose - that's what makes the winning meaningful, so you don't even know that much ).
That's scary, because it means that - as a DM - you can't prepare completely, and you need to able to think/plan/design on your feet and be adaptive to the way the Adventure is unfolding, and you need to develop the tools which allow you to plan ahead as much as possible ( just making s^%# up as you go, without plan or tools or direction, usually leads to a chaotic mess ), while maintaining complete flexibility. You're always needing to be on your toes, thinking fast, and you need to make it look effortless and like it was always meant to be the way it happened.
It's also the fun part, because you discover the story right alongside your Players, and it's as surprising & entertaining for you, as it is for them :)
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Right im definitley over thinking it so haha ill come up with a few hooks of different styles and then ask them at session 0 what sort of play style they want and then work off the ones that match that the most!
I havent yet assembled the party either so that gives me ABIT of flexibility aswell.
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Hi guy's; a new DM here with a question regarding my first homebrew
Basically I have been working on a homebrew world and so far its been going great! Apart from the main city the players will start in. I have alot of modular towns islands etc they wont know about than can be plopped into locations as things progress and are needed.
My main question is this.
How do I create the "missions/story arcs" that my players may or may not embark on and how do I scale these in terms of the Big Arc.
I have a few arc ideas but not sure if im going to big an arc to quickly and not letting things grow!
So I guess to sum it up Im having trouble deciphering the difference between what should be the over arcing story and what the smaller arcs tied into ot should be.
Thanks in advance for the help!
It sounds like your assumption here is that you have control over how the story and the Adventure is going to unfold, so you want to structure it like a novel.
It's unlikely that you have that much Narrative control, since you can't perfectly predict what the Players will do.
The scale/importance of an Adventure arc is likely to be highly influenced - if not outright determined - by what your Players focus on. You might think that this small throw-away side-quest you developed is of little importance, only to have your Players fixate on it totally, while they ignore the conflicts and events you thought were going to be the focus of your Campaign.
Design your Adventure arcs, throw out the hooks, see how your Party bites, and where they pull the line :) They'll tell you the scale they want that arc to be.
RPGs are a weird mix from the perspective of design. You need to design, since planning and design leads to better polished material, and a better game experience, but you also need to be completely flexible. Finding your personal balance, where you plan just enough and in such a way that you can "roll with the punches" of your Player antics and be able to either design-on-the-fly ( not the same as just making s%#$ up as you go! ) or - better yet - be able to predict with reasonable accuracy the 3-4 most likely paths the Players will take next and design polished material one-step-ahead of them - finding that balance takes practice.
Best of luck!
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
You should ask your players what kind of campaign they want to play. Stop the war, rescue the princess, hunt for the artifact, etc. Personally I like to give a few choices that I’d be interested in running, and let them pick one of those so everyone is happy with what we’re doing.
This should happen at your session 0, where you discuss overall expectations both for the style of play, and for how players will behave, and anything else you want to throw in, like restrictions on specific races, or classes, what books you’ll allow and so on. Do that first and you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches later.
And I can’t agree with Vedexent enough. Remember you’re not writing a book, the players need to have control over where they go. You can subtly put up guardrails to stop them going too crazy, but sometimes they’ll fixate on the shiny thing you meant to be just a one-off.
Hi thanks for the reply! :)
I understand the players wont necessarily bite on quests so in that regard is it necessary to have an over arching quest before I start the campaign or will the players create that as they go along? And then what I create should be modular campaign hooks that I can implement at seperate stages as required? :P
Also by asking them what sort of campaing they want is that not a copout to the suprise if they know what to expect almost?
I don’t think it would spoil the surprise. Just because you know a movie is a thriller doesn’t mean you know the twist at the end, or know the cool characters. But maybe I wasn’t clear; I didn’t mean tell them the plot, just give them broad options. If all they want is to fight monsters, and your plan is for palace intrigue with few combats, everyone will be disappointed. I meant get everyone invested in the same general idea. The ideas they throw out can help inspire the plot you plan, and ideally creates a feedback loop where everyone gets something in at the end.
It can also help with them building realistic characters. If someone picks a sailor background, they’ll be disappointed in a landlocked campaign. If you plan is for them to be in a forest, and the ranger chooses desert as a favored terrain, that will throw them off, too. Some baseline information is good for everyone.
Ah ok... i understand! Like a very vauge mission brief so the players can prep there characters to best suit what they think they will encounter and so I know what to focus my plot hooks around. I.e combat or narrative etc etc :)
Yes, like that. So everyone (them and you) has a sense of what they’re getting into.
Definitely ask the Players what kind of game they want to play. Remember though, you are a member of the game as well, so don't forget to accommodate your own wants as well.
I don't think it's possible to spoil the ending, because no one knows what the ending will be - not even you.
You absolutely can - and probably ( 90%+ ) should - have an overarching central conflict, or dramatic question that will shape the campaign - e.g. can the Players oppose the Great Elder Frost Dragon of the North and stop her before she lays waste to the Kingdom of Elbonia? - but how that question is answered, or even how it is explored, is something you create in conjunction with the Players.
Maybe they decide to quest for mystical artifacts of an ancient and legendary order of Dragon slayers, and fight the Dragon directly. Maybe they find a way to "buy off" the Dragon, by locating the thing she wants more than ravaging the Kingdom. Maybe they go on a totally separate quest to do a great service to Sultan of the Efreet, ruler of the City of Brass, so that when the Dragon comes to Elbonia she's met with an army of fire elementals. You won't know, until you play it out.
There are so many potential options and paths, you can't possibly predict how it will go - so you can't spoil the ending ( and remember, it's always possible for the Party to lose - that's what makes the winning meaningful, so you don't even know that much ).
That's scary, because it means that - as a DM - you can't prepare completely, and you need to able to think/plan/design on your feet and be adaptive to the way the Adventure is unfolding, and you need to develop the tools which allow you to plan ahead as much as possible ( just making s^%# up as you go, without plan or tools or direction, usually leads to a chaotic mess ), while maintaining complete flexibility. You're always needing to be on your toes, thinking fast, and you need to make it look effortless and like it was always meant to be the way it happened.
It's also the fun part, because you discover the story right alongside your Players, and it's as surprising & entertaining for you, as it is for them :)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Right im definitley over thinking it so haha ill come up with a few hooks of different styles and then ask them at session 0 what sort of play style they want and then work off the ones that match that the most!
I havent yet assembled the party either so that gives me ABIT of flexibility aswell.