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Switch to Forum Live View DMPCs, how to handle them...
5 years ago  ::  Aug 27, 2008 - 2:34PM #331
Zanzil
Zanzil
Date Joined: Aug 18, 2008
Posts: 13

hellmute wrote:

Why not just run one-shots with the various groups?

Sometiems these are a lot more fun than a campaign, and help break up a campgin for long standing groups to get you out of a rut.

You have a character that is meant toe xist for only a single adventure or a few session. You can try ANYTHING in it with little risk, and find out new things about the game, and maybe things you might want to try in your long runnign campaign, then when you have a stable group you can play a campaign.

I don't really like unstable groups for long-term play. That never works out to anythiing that I can get interested in.

Why does it tkae you so long to come up with ideas nearly a half a year?

Start a new thread about it, and maybe people will be able to bounce ideas around to help you get more on paper that can flesh out your campaign so you do not have to do all the work. That is what forums are great for.


Ideas are plenty, getting time to map them out set the strait and making it interesting takes time. Work + family = first priority. Also working in the gaming industry can suck away alot of your best ideas :P If i am going to design an adventure even a one off i want it set up properly challenging with twists that has a couple ways to succeed and develops the characters.

My group (and i) prefers character development. When this group first started we ran 2nd edition with the module "caves of chaos", and old gygax creation, if you want to roll a new char every 20 mins i suggest you give it a go.

Hellmute, I am beginning to understand that alot of this topic has to do with play style and what you ultimately want from a game and also that you have the luxury of being able to keep your game running the way you want it. If i( not drawing comparisons to anyone, because i donut know any of you) could solely DM, have the time to design adventures and campaigns for every Sunday at noon i would. But the reality is i cant make that kind of commitment with the time i have available, and neither do the guys i play with. What we have done is adapt what we can get away with into a functioning once a week gaming group because the alternative is TV, an mmorpg, or not playing at all.

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5 years ago  ::  Aug 27, 2008 - 3:40PM #332
hellmute
hellmute
Date Joined: Mar 31, 2008
Posts: 4,431
For one-shots you can pick something up online or at a store. There are VAST amounts of one-shot ideas and fulls tories that would take little to adapt from any game to D&D.

Most times it is all about play styles and what one person wants versus the other person out of the game.

One reason I don't really like the RPGA is because playing a long lasting game with random people potentially each time would not be enjoyment for me, but more hassle than it is worth to figure out the other playes to form a coherent group with them and be able for each to find the weakness of the others and be able to compensate for them during play.

You don't have to write everything for your group for even one-shots.

Grab a loose idea, and do it on the fly. As a Dm this can very easily also spur ideas during play that you could not include in the on-the-fly game, and take for your long lasting game that can be built upon.

For me as a DM, the ideas never stop coming, and I probably take more notes during play about ideas, than either my players take about the game they are in, or I wrote for the session we are playing.

I save those up for times of DM block.

Best thing to do is always carry around some little pad/notebook for D&D purposes, so no matter where you are you can jot down a spur of the moment idea for something to flesh out or use as is later.
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5 years ago  ::  Aug 27, 2008 - 4:56PM #333
_sushigaski_
_sushigaski_
Date Joined: Jul 9, 2008
Posts: 132
Wow. Just, wow.

@ the huge arugment about DMPCs: Play whatever you fracking want, its your campaign and if you like having a DMPC, then have one, if you think a DMPC is an abomination, then don't have one. DnD is kind of like a slightly more rules-intensive calvinball game~ it doesn't matter what rules you play by as long as you're having fun doing it.

But I did want to mention something that was brought up, about 4th edition blurring the line between PC and DM. It actually does appear in the DMG, as that person in Hawaii was saying. I'll look it up if I feel like it later, but there is a section about running a random dungeon "w/o a DM."

Basically, you had a person designated to control the monsters ("not a DM") and you would roll monsters and treasure randomly and play a little dungeon crawl. If I'm not mistaken, the person running the monsters was still able to have a hero participating in the game.

I don't have a problem with someone who wants to play like that. DnD, especially 4e, can be very tactical game, and I could see a random dungeon crawl being fun.

That said, I don't think it is very far off to say that I've got a story intensive game where we're all participating in creating the experience, and the DM wants to be one of the heroes as well as just the opposition. I don't think there is something inherently wrong with wanting to do that, and if the group is cool with it and likes it then more power to ya. Sure beats the hell out of "the DM vs the Players" type campaigns, where people are trying to "win" Dnd.

Its all just calvinball and cops-and-robbers in the end anyway.
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