All of these are great ideas! I would also add, delve into the character's backstories. Is there an old friend or family member who could be in trouble? A rival building power? An enemy bent on revenge? A mentor who has been waiting for them to reach a stage where they can finally help with something big? One of the wonderful things about D&D is that any story you love can be turned into something in the game.
Ditto on delving into the character's backstories. I may be going against the grain here, but as the DM I let my PCs have a hand in creating the towns/cities that their character's hail from. I find that it gets them motivated in exploring/interacting with an area that they helped create PLUS they oftentimes unknowingly write in tasty plot-hooks that I then use to continue the story.
Storytelling shouldn't just be the DM. The DM should be providing the canvas that the players then paint their own story on.
Yup that is another good idea... old 1e or 2e modules, stuff from basic/expert set, etc. Only oldies like me and sposta remember those.
HA! Better add me to that list then. I still have modules B1 and B2 as well as part of the basic boxed set. ;)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
You can also try going to Adventure Lookup, which is a site run by Matt Colville. There you can just put in the type of adventure you would like to run, and it will search for and find lists of adventures with the criteria you entered. Don't limit yourself by system, and you will get even more ideas. You can adapt a DCC adventure to D&D, for instance, if all you want are cool adventure ideas, and not so much the stats of the monsters.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
I absolutely agree that it can be fun to just ask your players "What do you want to do next?". Especially in between adventures, I'll use that opportunity to point blank ask if there's anything their characters want to try and do/achieve/explore. Let them tell you want they're excited about, and it can help you get excited about stuff too.
And when I need a buffer week, or something I can run between bigger adventures, I grab an Encounter of the Week.
When we suggest reading books, and comics and watching movies, don't limit yourself to only fantasy fare. You can easily convert sci fi into fantasy.
And yeah, you can listen to the old fogies and search out 1e stuff.
To take this a step further, don't limit yourself - read anything you can get your hands on. History books, biographies, any media can inspire a new encounter or NPC.
Other times I'll troll through the Monster Manuel and look for something that sounds fun to play and try to make up a way for the players to run into it.
I tend to have rainy and dry spells for ideas, too. Whenever I have ideas coming out of my ears, even if there is no immediate use for them, I jot down quick notes. Then, when I suddenly need to come up with something, I can pick something from my notes.
I definitely agree with everyone that inspiration comes from all sorts of places--books, movies, history, nature shows, or even a photo of an incredible landscape.
One thing that I find helps is to just start working on something. Start making some maps or working on some NPCs. And as I go, more ideas come to me. Most of the time whatever I started with never sees the light of day. But the process of getting started helps me get the ideas flowing.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
Watch Youtube videos about D&D, read prewritten adventures from any TTRPG, read fiction novels, watch fiction movies, look up ideas online. Those are the main ones I have.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
I like to roll new characters. One by one, create some NPCs. What do you have? A halfling warlock? who's his patron? What does his patron want? What affect does that have on the world? An Aarakocra monk? Why is she here in this setting? Why have the two teamed up? Perhaps they are trying to take down a barbarian king you just rolled up who has ruled fairly but killed their best friend, a kind drow elf druid. Is he really dead? Has he just been banished to the astral plane? Do they have any special items that cause chaos or harmony? How does that item affect the world around them?
There's no formula per se as this is all theater of the mind, but I've found when i roll up a group of characters, it starts to develop independently. Take your map and randomly put them places. Grab some random monsters from the monster manual and add them into the mix. Choose 3 tiers: Minor bosses, major bosses, BBEG. Give them names. Plant seeds with your players. Do they see shadows? Find a burnt piece of paper with damning information on it? Maybe they're done with messing with people and are seeking to make the land more fertile to pave the way for the future of the planet. Start with people, places and things, and seriously, just make them entirely random like I mentioned above. You'll start to connect the dots. And read books. Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere universe is a constant source of inspiration for me to name just one example.
This is just my method to help story-build. I hope this helps.
Lots of good suggestions already, particularly in "borrowing" parts of old modules (I do this all the time), or even from the current campaign books (which are hard to run).
Something I haven't seen mentioned, is to try to create "blank spaces" where your players can then fill in the details. As a DM you don't have to create everything, you can get a few things going, then sit back and listen to what your players are talking about. Take those good/interesting ideas and let them create the story, or the next interesting hook.
Regardless of how creative you are, you are outnumbered at the table... use this to your advantage and save yourself some work :)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
What do you guys do when you don't have an idea how a story should continue or what the PC-groub could stumble upon next?
I have a hard time on this sometimes, what do you do against lacking inspiration?
Read novels, watch movies, read comic-books... I get ideas from these sources all the time.
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.
All of these are great ideas!
I would also add, delve into the character's backstories. Is there an old friend or family member who could be in trouble? A rival building power? An enemy bent on revenge? A mentor who has been waiting for them to reach a stage where they can finally help with something big?
One of the wonderful things about D&D is that any story you love can be turned into something in the game.
Go find some old 2e stuff and “appropriate” it for your campaign. Most of that is so old that nobody but us oldheads are likely to recognize it.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Yup that is another good idea... old 1e or 2e modules, stuff from basic/expert set, etc. Only oldies like me and sposta remember those.
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.
Ditto on delving into the character's backstories.
I may be going against the grain here, but as the DM I let my PCs have a hand in creating the towns/cities that their character's hail from. I find that it gets them motivated in exploring/interacting with an area that they helped create PLUS they oftentimes unknowingly write in tasty plot-hooks that I then use to continue the story.
Storytelling shouldn't just be the DM. The DM should be providing the canvas that the players then paint their own story on.
HA! Better add me to that list then. I still have modules B1 and B2 as well as part of the basic boxed set. ;)
#OpenD&D #ORC
"...or you can find the secret tunnel that leads to the Vault of Dickish DM which is filled with 10,000,000 copper coins and a 5,000 pound solid gold statue of a middle finger that is too big to fit through the door."
When we suggest reading books, and comics and watching movies, don't limit yourself to only fantasy fare. You can easily convert sci fi into fantasy.
And yeah, you can listen to the old fogies and search out 1e stuff.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
You can also try going to Adventure Lookup, which is a site run by Matt Colville. There you can just put in the type of adventure you would like to run, and it will search for and find lists of adventures with the criteria you entered. Don't limit yourself by system, and you will get even more ideas. You can adapt a DCC adventure to D&D, for instance, if all you want are cool adventure ideas, and not so much the stats of the monsters.
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.
-
View User Profile
-
View Posts
-
Send Message
InsiderLots of fantastic suggestions here!
I absolutely agree that it can be fun to just ask your players "What do you want to do next?". Especially in between adventures, I'll use that opportunity to point blank ask if there's anything their characters want to try and do/achieve/explore. Let them tell you want they're excited about, and it can help you get excited about stuff too.
And when I need a buffer week, or something I can run between bigger adventures, I grab an Encounter of the Week.
Find me on Twitter: @OboeLauren
To take this a step further, don't limit yourself - read anything you can get your hands on. History books, biographies, any media can inspire a new encounter or NPC.
Other times I'll troll through the Monster Manuel and look for something that sounds fun to play and try to make up a way for the players to run into it.
I tend to have rainy and dry spells for ideas, too. Whenever I have ideas coming out of my ears, even if there is no immediate use for them, I jot down quick notes. Then, when I suddenly need to come up with something, I can pick something from my notes.
I definitely agree with everyone that inspiration comes from all sorts of places--books, movies, history, nature shows, or even a photo of an incredible landscape.
One thing that I find helps is to just start working on something. Start making some maps or working on some NPCs. And as I go, more ideas come to me. Most of the time whatever I started with never sees the light of day. But the process of getting started helps me get the ideas flowing.
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.
Watch Youtube videos about D&D, read prewritten adventures from any TTRPG, read fiction novels, watch fiction movies, look up ideas online. Those are the main ones I have.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I like to roll new characters. One by one, create some NPCs. What do you have? A halfling warlock? who's his patron? What does his patron want? What affect does that have on the world? An Aarakocra monk? Why is she here in this setting? Why have the two teamed up? Perhaps they are trying to take down a barbarian king you just rolled up who has ruled fairly but killed their best friend, a kind drow elf druid. Is he really dead? Has he just been banished to the astral plane? Do they have any special items that cause chaos or harmony? How does that item affect the world around them?
There's no formula per se as this is all theater of the mind, but I've found when i roll up a group of characters, it starts to develop independently. Take your map and randomly put them places. Grab some random monsters from the monster manual and add them into the mix. Choose 3 tiers: Minor bosses, major bosses, BBEG. Give them names. Plant seeds with your players. Do they see shadows? Find a burnt piece of paper with damning information on it? Maybe they're done with messing with people and are seeking to make the land more fertile to pave the way for the future of the planet. Start with people, places and things, and seriously, just make them entirely random like I mentioned above. You'll start to connect the dots. And read books. Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere universe is a constant source of inspiration for me to name just one example.
This is just my method to help story-build. I hope this helps.
Wow guys, holy hell. This is veeeerry much information. I think I will soon be able to create some more stuff again. Thank you very, very much :-)
Lots of good suggestions already, particularly in "borrowing" parts of old modules (I do this all the time), or even from the current campaign books (which are hard to run).
Something I haven't seen mentioned, is to try to create "blank spaces" where your players can then fill in the details. As a DM you don't have to create everything, you can get a few things going, then sit back and listen to what your players are talking about. Take those good/interesting ideas and let them create the story, or the next interesting hook.
Regardless of how creative you are, you are outnumbered at the table... use this to your advantage and save yourself some work :)
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Steal from cartoons. Jackie Chan Adventures was great for that.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
One can never go wrong with Jackie Chan....
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.
"Good artists borrow, great artists steal."
-
Pablo Picasso-
Banksy-Charlestheplant