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How to whip up a planned/ unplanned session in no time
I've recently discovered this site through a friend of mine, and it is great. I just wanted to throw out a very useful tip for planning a gaming session on short notice (or if you just want to be a little better prepared for your normal campaign it works for that also).
Its very easy, just bust out your old flowcharting skills. Take a blank sheet of paper and write down the starting point for the adventure (one sentence). For each item think of at least 2, and sometimes 3 possible outcomes-- keep in mind your knowledge of the adventuring party and what they are likely to do if possible. Draw a line with an arrow and a one sentence description to each outcome. Repeat. Where applicable, you will see that there are many opportunities for the lines to converge on the same point (they will loop around, and back, quicker than you think). If you are having trouble visualizing this method, think of the Choose Your Own Adventure books way back when.
So you end up with a few pages (or one big page) sketched out, in under 30 minutes. You have anticipated most of what could happen while still allowing for a good degree of flexibility for the party to act however they choose.
IF you have more time, you can write little notes on some of the boxes/ circles you already have on the page before the session starts. Or, as I like to do, you can just continually make sure the next decision in line has a couple of details filled in (basically just fill in the 2-3 pathways in front of the current one being taken by the party).
This actually helps me come up with (in advance) good strategies to keep the players focused on what I think they should be focusing on, without being heavy handed about it. Why? Because you already figured out in advance 4 different ways the evening session could go and still bring them back around to (insert campaign goal here) with your flowcharting!
If you dont believe me, try it sometime-- or just take your own existing plan for the evening and do a quick 5 minute flowchart for it. I bet you will discover some holes/ possible sidepaths/ unexpected possibilities in your planning that an enterprising party could exploit.
SUPER simplified version of this method:
Starting point :
Gladiator Arena (circle this)
/ \
Party decides to enter combat party does not enter combat
/ \ / / \
Win fight Lose Fight Meet contact (bar) thievery shopping
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \
leave go again reroll chars patron saves caught success
This is a hell of a lot easier with a pencil. Anyway, you can already see loopback potentials, and when you draw these out each item will have its own box or circle around it. You can jot down details inside of each box or circle, or adjacent to it either while planning the session or during the session.
Trust me, this can really make a DM seem like he has spent days and days planning when really he just spent maybe 30 minutes to make a flowchart and another 15-20 minutes adding details as the play progresses.
Lastly-- on your flowchart sheet keep a list of names at the bottom, for any NPCs that might come up (or be imagined into existence at the last moment) .... use a random name generator like this one if you want:
http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/
Cheers and happy adventuring. If this seems complex, then I didnt do a good job explaining... it really does work for a planned/ unplanned session! I have been using it for years, and I actually use it as a tool for planning adventures too. If I have time, I flesh out all I can. If I dont have time, I still have my adventure flow planned out!
Its very easy, just bust out your old flowcharting skills. Take a blank sheet of paper and write down the starting point for the adventure (one sentence). For each item think of at least 2, and sometimes 3 possible outcomes-- keep in mind your knowledge of the adventuring party and what they are likely to do if possible. Draw a line with an arrow and a one sentence description to each outcome. Repeat. Where applicable, you will see that there are many opportunities for the lines to converge on the same point (they will loop around, and back, quicker than you think). If you are having trouble visualizing this method, think of the Choose Your Own Adventure books way back when.
So you end up with a few pages (or one big page) sketched out, in under 30 minutes. You have anticipated most of what could happen while still allowing for a good degree of flexibility for the party to act however they choose.
IF you have more time, you can write little notes on some of the boxes/ circles you already have on the page before the session starts. Or, as I like to do, you can just continually make sure the next decision in line has a couple of details filled in (basically just fill in the 2-3 pathways in front of the current one being taken by the party).
This actually helps me come up with (in advance) good strategies to keep the players focused on what I think they should be focusing on, without being heavy handed about it. Why? Because you already figured out in advance 4 different ways the evening session could go and still bring them back around to (insert campaign goal here) with your flowcharting!
If you dont believe me, try it sometime-- or just take your own existing plan for the evening and do a quick 5 minute flowchart for it. I bet you will discover some holes/ possible sidepaths/ unexpected possibilities in your planning that an enterprising party could exploit.
SUPER simplified version of this method:
Starting point :
Gladiator Arena (circle this)
/ \
Party decides to enter combat party does not enter combat
/ \ / / \
Win fight Lose Fight Meet contact (bar) thievery shopping
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \
leave go again reroll chars patron saves caught success
This is a hell of a lot easier with a pencil. Anyway, you can already see loopback potentials, and when you draw these out each item will have its own box or circle around it. You can jot down details inside of each box or circle, or adjacent to it either while planning the session or during the session.
Trust me, this can really make a DM seem like he has spent days and days planning when really he just spent maybe 30 minutes to make a flowchart and another 15-20 minutes adding details as the play progresses.
Lastly-- on your flowchart sheet keep a list of names at the bottom, for any NPCs that might come up (or be imagined into existence at the last moment) .... use a random name generator like this one if you want:
http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/
Cheers and happy adventuring. If this seems complex, then I didnt do a good job explaining... it really does work for a planned/ unplanned session! I have been using it for years, and I actually use it as a tool for planning adventures too. If I have time, I flesh out all I can. If I dont have time, I still have my adventure flow planned out!
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I tell ya, igor, I like your thinking a lot! I have been struggling for two years to get my campaign prep time down and just can't seem to do it, no matter how many templates or other tricks I use. Unfortunately, most quick-planning guides don't address elements of game planning that require number crunching.
The biggest time-sucking problem I have is with creating NPCs & monsters. My PCs primarily come up against leveled monsters and humanoid NPCs, which require number crunching to create. Then I have to equip them and pick spells if they are spellcasters, etc. If they have class levels in a core 3.5 class, I often just use the NPC generator over at "Dingles Games":http://www.dinglesgames.com/tools/NPCGenerator/dnd35/ , but even then, it can easily take 30 minutes per NPC.
Beyond NPCs, I find that creating treasure tables, traps and setting the DCs for skill checks also bogs stuff down. I would love recommendations for how to speed up any of these elements.
I guess that's my long winded way of saying, for people that have been gaming and DMing as long as most of us have, we have a pretty good idea of level appropriate numbers. If we just make them up as we go, our players won't really know the difference, unless we tell them the numbers ahead of time, and even then, numbers that are off by one or two in a given direction don't make that much difference on game play. A fighter with a +19 is only going to hit 5% more often than one with a +18 after all.
Maybe you could come up with a couple of templates that you could alter slightly each time. Maybe you make 4-7 templates for "bad guy" or "monster" depending on their class or features, and then tweak it here and there so that these few templates that you'll get to know pretty well in no time are the basis for dozens of types of NPC's and creatures. If you find a template isn't powerful enough, or to powerful, then alter it. this would give you a good idea as to what certain stats should be like for certain "types" of bad guys. I dunno, just an idea.
As far as treasure goes, just wing it. My group loves when instead of randomly generated garbage they get macic items that suit their needs and or powers. Two items might be similar in value, but if one complements a character, and has some good description to it too, then the player will love it and value it so much more.
Just keep in mind, you are supposed to be having fun too. :) Too much work and no play makes the DM go crazy...
Heres a nice little trick which applies to your specific problem- NPCs/ opponents. I assume you know what your players have stats wise for each of their characters? If not, keep a little cheat sheet with all relevant bonuses/ stats on it for your playing group. Maybe even write down at the bottom SPECIAL MOVES for those super nifty mega group attacks/ procedures that your players have used in the past (barbarian grabs the dwarf, becomes enraged, and then wields the dwarf like a hammer for example.. or a more common one like Druid whips up firey wall/ conflagration while wizard blasts gusts of wind etc).
So you have your stat sheet... and now you need to figure out your NPC opponents/ monsters. Will your party or players ever get to see the character sheets of the NPCs? Do they care if its all filled out? Chances are the answer to both of those is a resounding NO!
Next thing you need to do is figure out how tough you want the fight to be. I like to use a 5 point scale. 1 is a nuisance encounter, maybe a few arrows shot towards the players before the enemy flees... or a drunken level 0 ruffian trying to pick a fight with the party's Half Ogre Executioner. A 5 is a cataclysmic event-- unless the group pulls out all the stops, calls in their favors, uses up all their expendable and one shot magic items, AND gets some lucky rolls... there are going to be player fatalities. SO, obviously most of the encounters should be 2,3 or 4s.
The 1s are used strictly for plot advancement or for needed comic relief or to redirect a party who is about to go off on a tangent you dont want them to. 5s are used strictly for plot advancement also... but in a different way. Major turning points, plot twists, or to use a White Wolf term.. the end of each chapter of the story.
Use your cheat sheet as a guide to create those 2,3 and 4 encounters. For a 3, the battle should be even. Match the stats of your players to the stats of your enemy encounter (not exactly, but they should be comparable in level, powers, skills, numbers, HPs etc). Work on getting a feel for creating those encounters; the Threes (equal to your players in strength).
Once you have enough practice working up a three, it becomes very easy to upgrade or downgrade that to a 2 or a 4. Tweak a couple stats here, add a skill there... or add some extra bodies in as cannon fodder... instant 4. Drop a few stat pts, or remove 1-2 enemies, and its an instant 2.
This works in conjunction with the flowcharting. At places where a battle should take place, you can jot down the level of encounter you want them to face. This helps in numerous ways-- it helps you strategically plan the flow of the session or chapter--- throw in a 1 to add spice to what might just be a normal NPC encounter, mix in 2s and 4s instead of just always throwing a 3 (equal) foe at the party, and save those 5s for when you truly need it. The other thing this helps with is letting YOU, as the DM, know when you need to fudge some dice rolls or not.
Party getting stomped by an encounter you labelled on your flowchart as a 2 (that minor sidequest to clear the merchants field accidentally escalates for example) ?? No worries, you know that you can fudge in the party's favor a little bit as the battle progresses. Or, the opposite--- is the party whooping up on your super NPC Captain Badass without hardly breaking a sweat? You see that you had it marked as a 4 encounter. Time to get creative-- fudge a little on the dice rolls, or maybe have Captain Badass chug a potion, or call in his reinforcements with his horn of badassery.. etc
I know this will still take you some time to work up those category 3 encounters... but using the cheat sheet with your player stats on it should help give you some guidelines.
For big battles/ tons of participants/ end of chapter / category 5 encounters I also usually do some basic projections. % chance to hit, average damage, etc can be used to calculate out rough damage potentials for each side, per round. If a giant NPC will hit your party's fighter (you have those stats readily available on your cheat sheet) 35% of the time, and does an average of 17.5 pts of damage... then each giant will be doing 6.125 pts per round to the fighter. From this number you can determine how many giants you need to swarm the fighter with in order to bring him to bloodied in X number of rounds.
Anyway, this post went a bit long. Take whatever ideas you like, leave the rest!
I've got a couple of tricks and cheats I'd like to share, but we're going to start with the flowchart, because I do things just a little differently.
First, this is a hands-on method of creating a story, and is perhaps not quite as quick or simple as the flowchart, but it helps me. Here's what you'll need: lots of sticky notes and a good-sized sheet of paper (although a spare washable battlemat/markerboard could work just as well).
Basically, you create your flowchart in the same way, but you write all of your NPCs and events and choices down on sticky notes instead of directly on the paper. You draw lines connecting events and NPCs and possibly PCs, etc. Just like igor's flowchart.
But here's why I use sticky notes: when the party inevitable skips way off the beaten track, forces you to invent a new NPC and then somehow makes that NPC central to their story, jumps from one part of the story to another (skipping all of your plot, the jerks), or does any of the normal things a party does, you can rearrange the whole thing with a minimum of effort. Events are recycled and reused, the plot changes order, NPCs are replaced, and there you are!
I also wanted to share something that I learned from "John Wick":http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=85816.
Now there are a lot of effective ways to go about short-cutting stats for mooks, and frankly, I usually play Savage Worlds, so it only takes me about 5-10 minutes to write up even BBEGs. But then, I also have most of the core rule book memorized.
But when I'm in a hurry, or put on the spot, here's what I do:
Grab an index card (I always bring a stack of them to my game sessions, for player-awarded experience bonuses, notes, and NPCs), write their name, and other important facts (job, relationship to players, goals, etc.) and three stats: Fighting, Thinking, and Talking. For Savage Worlds, that's die types. For D&D, obviously, it's bonuses. But frankly, I don't care about most NPCs specific skills, feats/edges, or whatever. I just need to know how good they are at those three things: Fighting, Thinking, and Talking.
Anyway, that's my two cents.
* Character Name & Level
* Ability scores
* HP written as a fraction Current/Total
* AC
* Final Save Modifiers
* Melee and Ranged attack modifiers
* Adjusted attack modifier for their favorite weapon
* Summary of their favorite moves or skills. (eg. I include Spells per day, DCs & the average damage for the sorcerer's favorite high-damage spells, I include the average Level and total HD of undead our paladin can turn, and our bard's diplomacy and bluff modifiers)
By including these scores, I hope to be ably to quickly assess how long I can expect an enemy or horde of zombies to last against the group... or how savvy an NPC will have to be to see past the bard's charm etc.
I also plan to add an overview section for group-wide skill levels like spot, listen & knowledge skill modifiers (i.e. skills that only require one person in the group to succeed or fail in order to affect the whole party.) With these skills, you only need the highest &/or lowest modifiers among the PCs to determine the group's chance of success or failure.
* "NPC/Monster Generator":http://www.dinglesgames.com/tools/NPCGenerator/dnd35/
* "Name Generator":http://www.behindthename.com/random/ (If you assign each of your fantasy kingdoms a particular real world culture or cultures, you can add a sense of consistency to character names with little effort)
* "Dungeon Map Generator":http://www.gozzys.com/article.php?cm_id=8 (This one is super useful for churning out caverns or labryinths that would otherwise take forever to draw.)
I think I have gotten at least 3 dollars worth of stolen ideas from here so far :)
JonathanVolkmer -- I like your post it thing. My flowcharts can get a bit crazy sometimes, especially as I am drawing in new lines to compensate for party activity-- but I see how using stickies could just make the same method that much easier.
Oh, and here is another Very Cool trick about characters-- it was actually ripped straight off of an essay written by Roger Zelazny on how much detail to give when describing a character in a fantasy novel. (he is the guy who did the amber novels, lord of light, etc)
All you need to make a character distinctive is two descriptors. Basically-- two things about any character can turn them from a faceless NPC into a distinctive person in an imaginary setting (in our case, RPG, in his case, a fantasy novel setting). Its fast, easy to do as a DM, and surprisingly effective to set the mental image of a scene or NPC.
Examples (standard then with 2 descriptors):
A peasant approaches you from the north.
A peasant approaches you from the north with a slight limp, scratching at his tattered straw hat.
The dragon is circling overhead, seemingly looking for something.
The dragon is circling overhead, its tatterred wings scraping against metallic scales, seemingly looking for something.
The barkeep seems friendly.
The bearded barkeep seems friendly as he waves one meaty hand at the party in greeting.
The skeleton horde charges down the road towards the church.
The skeleton horde charges silently down the road towards the church, the only noise the clatterring of bone on bone.
You are brought before the judge, and he looks down on you and begins to frown.
You are brought before the judge, and he looks down over his spectacles to frown at you, letting out a sigh.
Seems like a simple trick, and it is-- but two descriptors are all you need to turn a generic NPC into a memorable one. And they can be completely arbitrary details-- the color of a shirt, a gesture, hygiene status, a smell, a sound, a glance-- pretty much anything you can come up with.
I got the idea from living in a gang-infested city! :D
I am currently in the early stages of prepping a major dungeon crawl for my campaign, which I expect my players to reach in 2 to 3 weeks. (either our next session or the one after.)
I've always found dungeon crawls to be particularly challenging to prep, especially when I can't find an existing map to co-opt for my own purposes. Most of the prep work is front-loaded and there are many potential pitfalls, both literal on the players' end and metaphorical on the DM's.
In the past, I have made good use of the "5-Room Dungeon":http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=156#1 method of design, but this time I want to create something a little bigger. However, I worry about running into the issue of dungeon fatigue (i.e. the PCs feel like they are slogging and get bored with the experience before the big payoff.) I've run into this issue before, though it has usually happened _after_ the payoff when half the group wants to continue looting/exploring and half wants to GTFO.
So, here is what I'm thinking to help create a large dungeon fairly quickly while minimizing the risk of player burnout:
# Build it in sections, with each part representing a sort of 5-room dungeon.
# Base each "room" on an 8x8 space. Some of the rooms might consist of multiple smaller spaces, but will function as a single encounter unit.
# Build in rest areas. My previous cases of player burnout usually occurred when the PCs were low on resources. I'm hoping that allowing them to pause and recharge spells/heal up will help mitigate this.
What techniques do you utilize to quickly and effectively design dungeons?
...although Dungeons are subjective, arent they?
Still, no matter how interesting you make it...it's still a dungeon crawl, and you've gotta be aware of the limitations you're (possibly) imposing on the group because of this. Diplomatic characters that thrive in populated areas, and to a lesser degree, druids and rangers (depending on their areas of expertise) will feel neglected in dungeons faster than fighters and barbarians for example. I find short dungeon crawls utilized sporadically in a larger context much more appealing to all.
* Cleric of Olidammara - Player likes sneaking, tactics and roleplaying - dislikes puzzles, handling housekeeping out of game
* Rogue - Player likes sneaking and fighting things he can sneak attack - dislikes puzzles & things he can't deal extra damage to.
* Battle Sorcerer - Player likes smashing/blowing up things, exploring, solving puzzles and accumulating loot - dislikes stuff that requires record-keeping or drawn-out roleplay sessions
* Monk - Player likes solving puzzles, combat and exploring his backstory / 1/2orc relations - unclear on dislikes, but seems to grow bored when the group is planning their next step
* Paladin of Ehlonna - Player likes combat, flirting with NPCs and her unicorn - dislikes sessions that run long (Her character is currently being rolled as an NPC, as she is busy with grad school.)
* Wizard - Player likes clever tactics & roleplaying - dislikes... well, he's easy-going, but found his warblade too hack & slash, so switched to a more tactically advanced character.
* Bard - Player likes roleplaying, charming & tricking NPCs, solving puzzles - dislikes non-stop combat
So, I'm working with a wide array of player types. Generally, I find that varying the tactical combat environments, throwing in some puzzles and traps and making sure to change things up every so often keeps all of my players happy some of the time... at different times, of course.
Man, now that I'm thinking about it...I haven't been on a rickety bridge in a long time...either gaming or in real life.
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad13/venturesix/Gunter.jpg
I also use an Excel sheet with possible xp rewards based on decisions they make, and reward according to their actions. For example:
Jumping in front of the runaway cart: 100xp
Standing by and watching the man get run over: 0xp
Using skill/talent to stop cart or save man: 50xp
Speaking of xp doling, I've always given out an awesomeness bonus to players who really rocked a session (usually 10-15% on top of the session's xp) Then I was recently lamenting to a fellow DM that my players don't think outside the box, especially in combat. He said that he will verbally deal bonus xp mid-session for ingenious ideas/roleplaying because it provides an immediate association that creativity is rewarded. Anyone else do that sort of thing? /tangent
I think you've really got something there, Gnunn.
ps. Aren't you supposed to be working on an airship to take us all to Chicago?
I started out by awarding these manually -- as suggested above-- but I became annoyed with player begging or hinting that action X Y or Z deserved that little XP bonus, so at the beginning of one session I just announced that from here on out, the players will be awarding themselves these little bonus XP checkmarks. The only caveat is that whenever they give themselves one during the game, they must verbalize to let everyone know they are giving themselves such an award (usually just saying the word check as they mark their scratch sheet with a checkmark). When they reach ten check marks, they cash them in for a set amount of experience (depending on their level at the time).
The players actually did a really good job of containing themselves, and by requiring the public component it kept people from being greedy or lame and awarding themselves a bunch of unwarranted checkmarks. Plus, they did come up with a lot more out of the box ideas knowing that they might be rewarded for such.
But either way-- awarding them as a DM is still a great way to encourage that sort of behavior. Just mentioned the alternative in case you end up seeing what I was saw -- the not so subtle hints that player X deserves another Bonus for every action under the sun.
Wow, maybe we should start another thread for this? We kinda messed this one up.