I'm starting a new campaign with my group, moving from 3.5 to 5e and from our previous campaign which was very railroaded and linear unfortunately. For this campaign I'm going to be very hands off and expect them to take the direction reigns more. I have prewarned them and they are happy for this but I was wondering if there was a list of ideas for actions/what is possible to encourage them to get off the tracks a little, of only for the first few sessions.
I know many of you will just suggest that I let them get on with it and progress themselves but a list would be really helpful!
A suitable map, with various ruins and dungeons marked on it can be great for this sort of thing - the players can decide to go investigate anywhere on the map they like - you just need to have decided roughly what is at the various locations they might head to.
If they throw you a curve ball and want to head immediately for somewhere you weren't expecting, you can take your time playing them through the Wilderness journey to get there, with various encounters along the way.
You can also use the "uncooperative NPC" type of roadblock.
Someone who has something they need (information, a key, the authority to let them through, etc) but isn't at all inclined to aid them (and he can't be bought easily, or beat up over the head with a club - at least without preparation).
How do they tackle this?
Do they look for a means to make a deal with him? Do they try to rid his domain of issues to get to his good side or prove they are trustworthy? Do they plan a way to sneak their way into their goal (sneak through the gates, steal the key, beat him over the head with a club when no one's looking, etc)?
I think something like this lets them have a clear goal but also allows for a wide variety of valid approaches.
I don't mean where to go or what to do, I mean that in a given situation such as a social situation or probing a room for clues etc I would like to give them a prompt list (for the first session or two) with what they can do.
To a large degree the early adventures have to be railroaded, with hooks dropped for later adventures and the PCs to eventually be able to decide what they want to do themselves. If you aren't comfortable making stuff up on the spot, I'd say letting them have complete control is a lot harder. But for the most part you can put them in a situation and see what they come up with. Be flexible. If the PCs avoid the guard who has the one thing they need to complete the quest, then provide an alternative way to do so. Exceptions are if the PCs decide to kill the town guard because he was doing his job and guarding some place they decided on their own to steal from. Then you let them deal with the consequences.
It sounds like what you are wanting your players to do is similar to a West Marches type of campaign - where you have a whole heap of plot hooks and the players decide what and where they are going. Some of the decisions may be decided away from the game table and handled online via a forum, or group chat. Matt Colville did a youtube video about the style of play - was what I watched to understand how it works.
For the beginning, come up with like 2-3 possible different adventure hooks and let the party decide which they want to do. It doesn't matter if they all eventually lead to the same place, because the players aren't going to know that. You could even just have one dungeon mapped out, and just stick it in different places depending on which hook they go for.
During play, keep notes about what things interest the players and what things they don't find interesting. Things they find interesting are ripe as possible adventures/sidequests in the future. Did the party talk to a random NPC for a while and force you to come up with some stuff on the spot? Write that down -- maybe it can be used later by integrating the NPC into something you have in mind. Maybe they come back to the party and ask for their aid, since the party "owes" them one for the aid they gave them, maybe the NPC fell in with a bad crowd, or was murdered in their sleep.
The important thing is giving the illusion of choice, or smoke and mirrors if you will. You may only have a couple of small things prepared for any given session, but those couple of small things can be reflavored to fit whatever situation the PCs managed to get themselves into, so no matter what direction they choose to go, you have some sort of challenge to put in their way.
I don't mean where to go or what to do, I mean that in a given situation such as a social situation or probing a room for clues etc I would like to give them a prompt list (for the first session or two) with what they can do.
Such a list would be very large because they can do a lot of things. You can bash him over the head and tie him up till he gives you what you want. You can take him for ice-cream and try to swindle him or be genuine toward him.
Essentially the skills are the list of what you can do. Everything else is fluff in regards to how those skill checks are accomplished. You can of course rule in certain situations information and the like is more easy to come by, but I feel like the skills themselves serves as the best list of what can be done.
I don't mean where to go or what to do, I mean that in a given situation such as a social situation or probing a room for clues etc I would like to give them a prompt list (for the first session or two) with what they can do.
Ahhh, I missed this comment - you're looking for more of a list of tasks/checks/things to do for an "encounter" (with encounter being an actual battle all the way to entering a new room, or talking to the barmaid in a tavern). I know I've seen lists for a list of tasks that you can do in battle - the one that I've referenced in my games is this one: https://crobi.github.io/dnd5e-quickref/preview/quickref.html.
From an outside of battle perspective, it might be best to sit down with them and Mention that there might be times where searching the room or even them taking the time to draw their own map (when the go "oh there is a chest over here? Wait, why dont we search for traps then open it!") - I've always found that PCs will be a little more involved when they are helping to craft the environment themselves.
Have you thought about letting the players get a little control on the story telling? The 'Plot Points' optional rules in the DMG (p 269) is a great way to see what the players want to do in a more sandbox style of play. It takes a little getting used to, but having played in some other systems that use cue points and plot points as a primary game mechanic I've found that they work very well in 5e. I do think the page explains what plot points do only very briefly. I'd recommend using Option 1 and Option 2, but rather than having the player to the right add only a complication... Encourage them to add a "Yes and..." It makes for a very improvisational session and you open up the list of actions and stories that the player's have access too.
Just a side note; I've tried the DMless version and it isn't very 5e friendly. D&D needs that dungeon master unfortunately.
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Hi,
I'm starting a new campaign with my group, moving from 3.5 to 5e and from our previous campaign which was very railroaded and linear unfortunately. For this campaign I'm going to be very hands off and expect them to take the direction reigns more. I have prewarned them and they are happy for this but I was wondering if there was a list of ideas for actions/what is possible to encourage them to get off the tracks a little, of only for the first few sessions.
I know many of you will just suggest that I let them get on with it and progress themselves but a list would be really helpful!
I often run few minor side quests (with some magical items as reward) to "escape" a bit the main campaign.
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D&D Beyond FoundersDo you have a map for your campaign?
A suitable map, with various ruins and dungeons marked on it can be great for this sort of thing - the players can decide to go investigate anywhere on the map they like - you just need to have decided roughly what is at the various locations they might head to.
If they throw you a curve ball and want to head immediately for somewhere you weren't expecting, you can take your time playing them through the Wilderness journey to get there, with various encounters along the way.
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You can also use the "uncooperative NPC" type of roadblock.
Someone who has something they need (information, a key, the authority to let them through, etc) but isn't at all inclined to aid them (and he can't be bought easily, or beat up over the head with a club - at least without preparation).
How do they tackle this?
Do they look for a means to make a deal with him? Do they try to rid his domain of issues to get to his good side or prove they are trustworthy? Do they plan a way to sneak their way into their goal (sneak through the gates, steal the key, beat him over the head with a club when no one's looking, etc)?
I think something like this lets them have a clear goal but also allows for a wide variety of valid approaches.
I don't mean where to go or what to do, I mean that in a given situation such as a social situation or probing a room for clues etc I would like to give them a prompt list (for the first session or two) with what they can do.
To a large degree the early adventures have to be railroaded, with hooks dropped for later adventures and the PCs to eventually be able to decide what they want to do themselves. If you aren't comfortable making stuff up on the spot, I'd say letting them have complete control is a lot harder. But for the most part you can put them in a situation and see what they come up with. Be flexible. If the PCs avoid the guard who has the one thing they need to complete the quest, then provide an alternative way to do so. Exceptions are if the PCs decide to kill the town guard because he was doing his job and guarding some place they decided on their own to steal from. Then you let them deal with the consequences.
Still not the point of the original question.. I might just repost and rephrase what I wrote.
It sounds like what you are wanting your players to do is similar to a West Marches type of campaign - where you have a whole heap of plot hooks and the players decide what and where they are going. Some of the decisions may be decided away from the game table and handled online via a forum, or group chat. Matt Colville did a youtube video about the style of play - was what I watched to understand how it works.
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For the beginning, come up with like 2-3 possible different adventure hooks and let the party decide which they want to do. It doesn't matter if they all eventually lead to the same place, because the players aren't going to know that. You could even just have one dungeon mapped out, and just stick it in different places depending on which hook they go for.
During play, keep notes about what things interest the players and what things they don't find interesting. Things they find interesting are ripe as possible adventures/sidequests in the future. Did the party talk to a random NPC for a while and force you to come up with some stuff on the spot? Write that down -- maybe it can be used later by integrating the NPC into something you have in mind. Maybe they come back to the party and ask for their aid, since the party "owes" them one for the aid they gave them, maybe the NPC fell in with a bad crowd, or was murdered in their sleep.
The important thing is giving the illusion of choice, or smoke and mirrors if you will. You may only have a couple of small things prepared for any given session, but those couple of small things can be reflavored to fit whatever situation the PCs managed to get themselves into, so no matter what direction they choose to go, you have some sort of challenge to put in their way.
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If you have questions/concerns, please Private Message me or another moderator.
Wary the wizard who focuses on homebrew, for he can create nightmares that you wouldn't even dream of
Have you thought about letting the players get a little control on the story telling? The 'Plot Points' optional rules in the DMG (p 269) is a great way to see what the players want to do in a more sandbox style of play. It takes a little getting used to, but having played in some other systems that use cue points and plot points as a primary game mechanic I've found that they work very well in 5e.
I do think the page explains what plot points do only very briefly. I'd recommend using Option 1 and Option 2, but rather than having the player to the right add only a complication... Encourage them to add a "Yes and..." It makes for a very improvisational session and you open up the list of actions and stories that the player's have access too.
Just a side note; I've tried the DMless version and it isn't very 5e friendly. D&D needs that dungeon master unfortunately.