I have 2 players, one is interested in the story and wants to explore and the other is a murder hobo and he gets bored if there isnt any action, how to i put stuff in my campaign to suit him?
It can be a challenge to have players with such different needs. What I would probably do is have set piece battles strategically placed in my campaign. Battles w/ henchmen of the BBG where you are moving story elements along inside of the battle. Having recurring characters as enemies helps with the story bit, and is a battle so the murder hobo doesn't get bored.
In terms of exploring, you can always try to super flavor any dungeon they happen into. A good example to look at would be the Death House, which is normally used to level pc's from 1 to 3. Death House has a lot of cool things going on while still having some intense fights. I would probably, personally, sprinkle in a few more encounters than what Death House has depending on how blood thirsty the murder hobo is.
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DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd[Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player] Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale Ru's Current Status
Tricky, but the blessing is you only have the two to worry about. It's not too tough to work between the two of them and have them both get what they need.
The trick is the plan for both. Who hasn't seen a buddy road trip movie with one guy on a mission and another who's always getting him into trouble? This a the perfect step up for you to gear this around. Start off by asking your story-player for his backstory, get an idea of what he wants to accomplish. Is he looking for a former family member on a single clue? Is he looking for some relic or treasure that many have sought but few believe exists? Does he just need to get home to the otherside of the country and needs help getting there? It's his motivation that will be the prime directive by which you story will function and move towards. He is the hapless protagonist on a important, personal errand.
And your murder hobo is the help that doesn't help. He's the waylayer, the one who he meets through happenstance that seems well meaning enough that they begin traveling together. Maybe he claims to know the family member in question, and knows where he was heading last. Maybe he once saw the ruins where the treasure lays, and will take him there if they split it. Maybe he claims to be traveling in the same direction for and will come along for mutual protection. Maybe he's lying through his teeth (and you can feed him just enough story from your story player to let him mess with him). One way or another, your murder hobo is gonna be wildcarding the whole adventure. Every path your story guy makes, hobo knows a better short cut. Every safe house he knows, hobos offensive nature gets them thrown out. Every time diplomacy is the answer, hobo chucks an axe. It's perfect.
Story will tell you what you want, and you can plan to take it that direction. So long as you have some plans to escalate things at the hobo's doing (or are really good at improve), this adventure may write itself as you go. They'll make fragile friends and bitter enemies, foes that will chase and gang up Blues Brothers style at the campaign's end. They'll end up in public eye and infamy and be prepared for none of it. I'm kinda jealous of your opportunity here.
You'll have to come up with good encounters for your hobo's intrest (I pray he's taking barbarian or fighter), but if you focus on that and make your sessions in mind with him trying to stir things up, you should be able to balance keeping them loosely railroaded towards the overarching goal while still letting your hobo feel like a loose cannon and your story guy feel like the adventure is organic, original and that he has real stakes in it. Your players will be trying to check each others antics and counter antics and you'll have a long road to bring them together through the maddness.
You've hit on one of the main challenges of DM'ing. The reality is that no 2 players are alike and all players want to have fun and that means shining in their own way.
It's easy to label the murder hobo as "the problem" since the other player seems more accommodating, but turn it around. If you had a few sessions in a row that were 100% running combats with no story to explore it'd be the first player in your example that might be checking out.
As DM's it's our job to keep the game engaging for all of our players. 100% of the time for 100% of the players is impossible, but enough that they're having fun and want to keep it going.
I have 2 players, one is interested in the story and wants to explore and the other is a murder hobo and he gets bored if there isnt any action, how to i put stuff in my campaign to suit him?
It can be a challenge to have players with such different needs. What I would probably do is have set piece battles strategically placed in my campaign. Battles w/ henchmen of the BBG where you are moving story elements along inside of the battle. Having recurring characters as enemies helps with the story bit, and is a battle so the murder hobo doesn't get bored.
In terms of exploring, you can always try to super flavor any dungeon they happen into. A good example to look at would be the Death House, which is normally used to level pc's from 1 to 3. Death House has a lot of cool things going on while still having some intense fights. I would probably, personally, sprinkle in a few more encounters than what Death House has depending on how blood thirsty the murder hobo is.
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd [Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player]
Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale
Ru's Current Status
Tricky, but the blessing is you only have the two to worry about. It's not too tough to work between the two of them and have them both get what they need.
The trick is the plan for both. Who hasn't seen a buddy road trip movie with one guy on a mission and another who's always getting him into trouble? This a the perfect step up for you to gear this around. Start off by asking your story-player for his backstory, get an idea of what he wants to accomplish. Is he looking for a former family member on a single clue? Is he looking for some relic or treasure that many have sought but few believe exists? Does he just need to get home to the otherside of the country and needs help getting there? It's his motivation that will be the prime directive by which you story will function and move towards. He is the hapless protagonist on a important, personal errand.
And your murder hobo is the help that doesn't help. He's the waylayer, the one who he meets through happenstance that seems well meaning enough that they begin traveling together. Maybe he claims to know the family member in question, and knows where he was heading last. Maybe he once saw the ruins where the treasure lays, and will take him there if they split it. Maybe he claims to be traveling in the same direction for and will come along for mutual protection. Maybe he's lying through his teeth (and you can feed him just enough story from your story player to let him mess with him). One way or another, your murder hobo is gonna be wildcarding the whole adventure. Every path your story guy makes, hobo knows a better short cut. Every safe house he knows, hobos offensive nature gets them thrown out. Every time diplomacy is the answer, hobo chucks an axe. It's perfect.
Story will tell you what you want, and you can plan to take it that direction. So long as you have some plans to escalate things at the hobo's doing (or are really good at improve), this adventure may write itself as you go. They'll make fragile friends and bitter enemies, foes that will chase and gang up Blues Brothers style at the campaign's end. They'll end up in public eye and infamy and be prepared for none of it. I'm kinda jealous of your opportunity here.
You'll have to come up with good encounters for your hobo's intrest (I pray he's taking barbarian or fighter), but if you focus on that and make your sessions in mind with him trying to stir things up, you should be able to balance keeping them loosely railroaded towards the overarching goal while still letting your hobo feel like a loose cannon and your story guy feel like the adventure is organic, original and that he has real stakes in it. Your players will be trying to check each others antics and counter antics and you'll have a long road to bring them together through the maddness.
#OpenDnD. #DnDBegone
You've hit on one of the main challenges of DM'ing. The reality is that no 2 players are alike and all players want to have fun and that means shining in their own way.
It's easy to label the murder hobo as "the problem" since the other player seems more accommodating, but turn it around. If you had a few sessions in a row that were 100% running combats with no story to explore it'd be the first player in your example that might be checking out.
As DM's it's our job to keep the game engaging for all of our players. 100% of the time for 100% of the players is impossible, but enough that they're having fun and want to keep it going.
Thanks you