I think that publicly posting personal goals is a good way to motivate oneself to pursue them more actively. To that end, what are everyone's DMing goals right now?
Mine are avoiding to use the terms "kind of" and "sort of" when describing characters, environments, and situations at the table, and also to outsource some of the worldbuilding to the players (i.e., let the fill in details from long travels, let them describe NPCs, let them describe aspects of the environment).
Stay Focused - I've got a superhero campaign I'm running because the whim struck me so hard I put other stuff on hold to dive into it, and another whim has driven me to prepare a HackMaster campaign to run afterwards rather than going back to the stuff I put on hold, and I want to stick to the plan and see both through so that I don't feel like I can't finish campaigns anymore (because circumstances of various sorts have caused no campaign I've run in the last 5 years to reach an actual conclusion).
Get some of these hundreds of unpainted miniatures sitting around my house painted and ready for use on the table - they've been here for years but I keep getting 1 or 2 painted and losing motivation. Now I've wrapped my want of painting them into my want of running HackMaster (which greatly benefits from using minis because of its combat system) in the hopes that having the order I need figures painted in to have them ready at the appropriate time will help me stay on task.
Do my best to get my players' interest in the setting we use - I like using a variety of settings for campaigns, but my players often don't know much about them or don't really care, usually because they don't want to sit and read setting material in whatever free time they have between sessions. So I'm working at incorporating more small bites of setting material in each of our sessions (instead of the much easier glossing over of the details) and in ways that are more relevant to their characters so that, hopefully, they will eventually have a broad knowledge of each setting without feeling like they had to study for some kind of test.
Taking better notes during the session. I feel obligated to quickly respond and get everyone into the game as much as possible, and in doing so I don't give myself time to jot down what actually happens. Then a week later, I forget key things and makes for what I consider a poorer experience (despite my players telling me I do a great job and not to worry about it, I know I can be better).
To build a list of character names for npcs to use on snap times.
Such a great suggestion and I always forget to prepare my one time use name list.
Hmm. Tangent. Having a DM quest of the week could be fun.
Ah! If you're interested, I have a google sheet I call "random stuff generator," and one of the pages is for NPC names and traits (for all major FR races). Just open the tab and about 14 random names pop, hit refresh and get 14 new ones. If you'd like I can share it with you.
Taking better notes during the session. I feel obligated to quickly respond and get everyone into the game as much as possible, and in doing so I don't give myself time to jot down what actually happens. Then a week later, I forget key things and makes for what I consider a poorer experience (despite my players telling me I do a great job and not to worry about it, I know I can be better).
I feel like a fun and easy way to buy time for this that keeps the ball rolling is to prompt your players for role-play action while you hustle to take notes.
For example: "Wow, Grodnius, you're cracking the mysterious glass orb onto the floor? Okay... starts to scribble Larramay, as you see the glass hit the flagstones the whole world seems to shift into slow motion. Can you describe what your seeing and your reaction?"
Taking better notes during the session. I feel obligated to quickly respond and get everyone into the game as much as possible, and in doing so I don't give myself time to jot down what actually happens. Then a week later, I forget key things and makes for what I consider a poorer experience (despite my players telling me I do a great job and not to worry about it, I know I can be better).
I feel like a fun and easy way to buy time for this that keeps the ball rolling is to prompt your players for role-play action while you hustle to take notes.
For example: "Wow, Grodnius, you're cracking the mysterious glass orb onto the floor? Okay... starts to scribble Larramay, as you see the glass hit the flagstones the whole world seems to shift into slow motion. Can you describe what your seeing and your reaction?"
Aside from that I've been DMing for almost 40 years now and there is still room for improvement. My goal this year is to go back to my roots, creating a Homebrew world that is customized to the players. Each of my 4 groups are a little different and running the pre-made books is getting a little hard to keep track of all the changes I've had to make to them to fit each group and personalize them to fit the needs of the players. This doesn't mean I'll stop buying the adventure books, because I do take a lot of ideas out of them.
Each group will play a hand the creation of the world and it will develop based on their actions. Thought it would be a good project/goal to prepare for the Fall season of "Has Anyone Seen the Gnome?" LOL! Kidding, I know where she is.
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Aside from that I've been DMing for almost 40 years now and there is still room for improvement. My goal this year is to go back to my roots, creating a Homebrew world that is customized to the players. Each of my 4 groups are a little different and running the pre-made books is getting a little hard to keep track of all the changes I've had to make to them to fit each group and personalize them to fit the needs of the players. This doesn't mean I'll stop buying the adventure books, because I do take a lot of ideas out of them.
Each group will play a hand the creation of the world and it will develop based on their actions. Thought it would be a good project/goal to prepare for the Fall season of "Has Anyone Seen the Gnome?" LOL! Kidding, I know where she is.
Any ideas for your homebrew world yet? I'm always wildly fascinated by how many worlds people create on a daily basis and what their geography and politics are like.
Aside from that I've been DMing for almost 40 years now and there is still room for improvement. My goal this year is to go back to my roots, creating a Homebrew world that is customized to the players. Each of my 4 groups are a little different and running the pre-made books is getting a little hard to keep track of all the changes I've had to make to them to fit each group and personalize them to fit the needs of the players. This doesn't mean I'll stop buying the adventure books, because I do take a lot of ideas out of them.
Each group will play a hand the creation of the world and it will develop based on their actions. Thought it would be a good project/goal to prepare for the Fall season of "Has Anyone Seen the Gnome?" LOL! Kidding, I know where she is.
Any ideas for your homebrew world yet? I'm always wildly fascinated by how many worlds people create on a daily basis and what their geography and politics are like.
The ideas came from my players. We all sat down one night for a few hours after a session and discussed ideas for the next campaign. I got some amazing feed back for everyone.
First there was a request for more politics and intrigue between kingdoms and within those kingdoms. Much like city representatives plotting for more political power within the city etc. So a little Game of Thrones "ish". My goal from here was to start with a small area with a large free city run by a group of lords and guild leaders forming a loose Oligarchy sort of government. One that works, but also has much corruption. This provides a starting theater for adventures.
The lands around the starting area will be filled with woods (Elves) and a great Mtn Range (Dwarfs) and some rolling hills (Halflings). This group is also huge fans of the Lord of Rings so they didn't want 18 different races and wanted to return to something more basic. I'm not leaving out the other possible races, but will include them in the world perhaps in various unexplored areas. Personally, I like a lot of the other races so I wanted to have there. Just in case someone changes their mind after discovering the Dragonborn Lands and want to try one out.
They also liked the idea of Horror in the game so I've begun working in various spots which are haunted etc., plus one of the lords of the starting city is a vampire to add a little twist.
There will be of course a major terror that threatens the lands around them. I'm going to use a Ice Queen Lich and her Dracolich mount which has been looked away in the ice mtns. in the north. Something to build around the timeline that becomes more threatening over time. Cultists trying to free her and so much more.
I've spent a lot of time going through some of the older adventures I've collected over my 40 years of DMing and including those. Keep on the Borderlands and all the adventures from the Yawning Portal will all be there with some many more. The world is almost being built around all these adventures. Of course I've made a few changes to integrate them smoothly.
The odds of being able to do all of these will not happen but the world is going to be a giant sandbox of adventure. The players will be able to carve out their own stories and when they retire become part of the new world.
Most of the ideas have come from my players over the years. There is nothing worst than having all these awesome ideas that you have thought of and your players end up disinterested. I wanted to get the most feedback from the players as possible. Sure they might not do everything, but everything they do will impact the world.
I also took a page out of Wizards and have drawn out a Egyptian theme area very south ruled by a Good Brass Dragon. Totally borrowed that from wizards and changed it up a bit. This place will be amazing if the players travel there. Having to deal with different customs and a whole lot more. Not to mention and ancient tomb or temple to explore.
Included will be the City of Mages. Twin cities on either side of a great river joined by a magical bridge. Both built with numerous towers and spires and all kinds of magical things. This is still a brainstorming idea with little detail yet.
Making a world is a tough job when you are just starting out. I'm lucky to have a few decades of experience that I can tap into. I've done a few worlds so I can take what worked and add it in. The hardest part is developing things players haven't seen before. You want to make each area come alive with wonder.
Read lots and take what you like from each book and adapt it to you and make it your own.
Over all I've been please with the results and I now have a complete journal of notes.
I suggest you try it out. One thing I do before I start creating a huge map is write everything I want first. The map is the final stroke and that includes the city maps as well.
JT
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
My DM goals are extending my English vocabulary to be able to describe different things more accurately as I would in my native language, as I sometimes feel this cripples my ability to narrate and make things more immersive for my players. As a player to increase my fluency in French to be able to start playing games in French (not DMing yet, baby steps..)
My goal, in some of my games, is to make my players fear for their characters' lives without throwing anything worse than a medium encounter at them.
Totally. Makes them become connected to that piece of paper on a different level. There are a lot of low CR monsters that can lay waste to a party of adventures if played right. Goblins are the worse when you use them to make hit and run tactics and don't let the players rest.
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
So what are, let's say, your top three ways to catalyze that process? How do you make the players feel the fear of losing their characters aside from throwing monsters at them?
So what are, let's say, your top three ways to catalyze that process? How do you make the players feel the fear of losing their characters aside from throwing monsters at them?
I am looking forward to starting a campaign with new people I have never met before and gaining new friends in the process. And continue leveling them up and fighting monsters and gaining treasures.
I want to run a "final boss" encounter that doesn't end in anticlimax.
Finish writing my hard sci-fi game (and of course run it).
Build a world rich as any published setting.
Oh man, for that first one I was struggling for a long time. The problem is that big monsters or custom NPC enemies tend to just... die, right? They're sacks of hit points to be cleaved through like everything else.
Until I fixed it. I made it so that using the environment and skills were how bosses take "damage." The room or battlefield contains hazards that can be used to advantage or must be dealt with. I even started implementing a "Rounds" system where the party has to survive or thwart the Boss's action each round to proceed to the next. After a predetermined number of rounds the boss is defeated in a narrative way: either the portal to send them back to wherever they came from has finally stabilized and they can be kicked through, or they unstable stonework they're standing on finally collapses and they fall into a seemingly bottomless abyss, or the control they have over the magic/creatures/artifacts they draw their power from becomes unstable enough that it destroys them.
These kinds of finishes also allow me to build in "falling action" post-fight, if defeating the boss has environmental effects that can trigger the party having to escape from wherever they're at.
I think that publicly posting personal goals is a good way to motivate oneself to pursue them more actively. To that end, what are everyone's DMing goals right now?
Mine are avoiding to use the terms "kind of" and "sort of" when describing characters, environments, and situations at the table, and also to outsource some of the worldbuilding to the players (i.e., let the fill in details from long travels, let them describe NPCs, let them describe aspects of the environment).
DM, Player, and Co-Host of TL;DM Podcast
click for: The TL;DM Podcast ||| TL;DM on Twitter
My current DM goals:
Stay Focused - I've got a superhero campaign I'm running because the whim struck me so hard I put other stuff on hold to dive into it, and another whim has driven me to prepare a HackMaster campaign to run afterwards rather than going back to the stuff I put on hold, and I want to stick to the plan and see both through so that I don't feel like I can't finish campaigns anymore (because circumstances of various sorts have caused no campaign I've run in the last 5 years to reach an actual conclusion).
Get some of these hundreds of unpainted miniatures sitting around my house painted and ready for use on the table - they've been here for years but I keep getting 1 or 2 painted and losing motivation. Now I've wrapped my want of painting them into my want of running HackMaster (which greatly benefits from using minis because of its combat system) in the hopes that having the order I need figures painted in to have them ready at the appropriate time will help me stay on task.
Do my best to get my players' interest in the setting we use - I like using a variety of settings for campaigns, but my players often don't know much about them or don't really care, usually because they don't want to sit and read setting material in whatever free time they have between sessions. So I'm working at incorporating more small bites of setting material in each of our sessions (instead of the much easier glossing over of the details) and in ways that are more relevant to their characters so that, hopefully, they will eventually have a broad knowledge of each setting without feeling like they had to study for some kind of test.
My DMing goals?
You know when you sit everyone down, including grandma, and have an intense game of Monopoly that ends in the table being flipped?
Something like that.
Making plans for the next adventure when you still have to finish the current one...or several ones.
To build a list of character names for npcs to use on snap times.
Such a great suggestion and I always forget to prepare my one time use name list.
Hmm. Tangent. Having a DM quest of the week could be fun.
Taking better notes during the session. I feel obligated to quickly respond and get everyone into the game as much as possible, and in doing so I don't give myself time to jot down what actually happens. Then a week later, I forget key things and makes for what I consider a poorer experience (despite my players telling me I do a great job and not to worry about it, I know I can be better).
How do you get a one-armed goblin out of a tree?
Wave!
DM, Player, and Co-Host of TL;DM Podcast
click for: The TL;DM Podcast ||| TL;DM on Twitter
DM, Player, and Co-Host of TL;DM Podcast
click for: The TL;DM Podcast ||| TL;DM on Twitter
How do you get a one-armed goblin out of a tree?
Wave!
Keeping my Players alive!
Aside from that I've been DMing for almost 40 years now and there is still room for improvement. My goal this year is to go back to my roots, creating a Homebrew world that is customized to the players. Each of my 4 groups are a little different and running the pre-made books is getting a little hard to keep track of all the changes I've had to make to them to fit each group and personalize them to fit the needs of the players. This doesn't mean I'll stop buying the adventure books, because I do take a lot of ideas out of them.
Each group will play a hand the creation of the world and it will develop based on their actions. Thought it would be a good project/goal to prepare for the Fall season of "Has Anyone Seen the Gnome?" LOL! Kidding, I know where she is.
JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
DM, Player, and Co-Host of TL;DM Podcast
click for: The TL;DM Podcast ||| TL;DM on Twitter
JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
My goal, in some of my games, is to make my players fear for their characters' lives without throwing anything worse than a medium encounter at them.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
My DM goals are extending my English vocabulary to be able to describe different things more accurately as I would in my native language, as I sometimes feel this cripples my ability to narrate and make things more immersive for my players.
As a player to increase my fluency in French to be able to start playing games in French (not DMing yet, baby steps..)
JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
So what are, let's say, your top three ways to catalyze that process? How do you make the players feel the fear of losing their characters aside from throwing monsters at them?
DM, Player, and Co-Host of TL;DM Podcast
click for: The TL;DM Podcast ||| TL;DM on Twitter
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
I want to run a "final boss" encounter that doesn't end in anticlimax.
Finish writing my hard sci-fi game (and of course run it).
Build a world rich as any published setting.
Futuaris nisi irrisius ridebus.
I am looking forward to starting a campaign with new people I have never met before and gaining new friends in the process. And continue leveling them up and fighting monsters and gaining treasures.
DM, Player, and Co-Host of TL;DM Podcast
click for: The TL;DM Podcast ||| TL;DM on Twitter