When you have more time to prep

As my current game has been on break for several weeks, I've found myself with the luxury of prepping beyond the next immediate session. I wanted to share what I’ve been working on as inspiration for others who also have some time to prep. I'll expand on some of these points in future articles; I'm trying a lot of new things and I'm eager to see what works and share the results.

1. Develop the larger story

Since my game is mostly homebrew, I don't have a pre-written plot arc I can rely on. I would have to come up with my own, which can be tough if I only have enough time to plan the next session. It's hard to know where the entire game will end up, but outlining a mini-arc (4-5 sessions of content) is a good balance between being prepared and forcing the plot in a certain direction to conform to our preconceived notions.

Armed with this information, we can seed our sessions with hints and clues about what's to come. We can develop transitions between sessions to make them feel seamlessly connected. I even wrote some enigmatic fortunes for the party to receive, providing hints and advice on obstacles they may face. Most importantly, however, we can...

2. Integrate the characters into the story

Now that we have an idea of the overarching plot, we can work to integrate the party into that plot. What hooks can we use to draw the characters in? How will advancing the plot enable the players to explore and develop their characters? What rewards might they be motivated by?

One way I addressed these questions is by creating individual and party goals. By making the character goals compatible with plot-related goals, we can ensure that our players are excited to engage with the content.

3. Develop the local area

Like all published materials, city and campaign sourcebooks are not 100% perfect for our needs. But they often have great ideas we can steal for our games. Taking some time to read other sources and become inspired is a great way to breathe life into our world.

4. Write cutscenes for the players

I plan to begin the next session with the party talking to a quest NPC to learn about the next mini-arc of the campaign. To help set up that interaction, I wrote a short cutscene involving that NPC and sent it to my group. Even if I was only writing it for myself, I believe it to have been a useful exercise. 

Writing a cutscene allowed me to develop that character (and even think up a new one!), all the while integrating lore and developments within the world. With such a long gap between sessions, I hope this will help keep my players engaged and eager to dive in next session.

Let me know your thoughts or if you have other things you like to do with your extra prep time!

Players want to do things, not experience things

Railroading becomes an occupational hazard when DMing or playing in a large published campaign. If you’re lucky, the campaign will offer choices– which quest to complete first, which faction to ally with. But these choices still eventually lead to the same conclusion. They have to, or else the campaign book wouldn’t be able to have any conclusion at all.

The result, however, is that the players are essentially acting out a choose-your-own-adventure book without much ability to forge their own path. How can the campaign remain fun and engaging when the conclusion is already written?

This gets to my larger point of why I’m generally not a fan of big published campaigns: players want to do things, not experience things. They don’t want to just experience someone else’s pre-written story. 

Here are a few ways you can put this into practice:

• The plot shouldn’t happen at the PCs or around them. The characters and their choices should be the ones driving the direction of the story.
• In lieu of a large published campaign plot, consider steering the story towards the random things the players latch onto. There’s an excellent blog article explaining this process in more detail, and I believe it’s one of the best ways we can make our sessions fun for our players.
• Victory in combat encounters shouldn’t be a given. Again, we want to avoid predetermined outcomes. Make sure combat encounters advance the story in interesting ways regardless of who wins.
• Locations and dungeon rooms should have fun and interesting things for the characters to interact with (things to do!). Flowery descriptions and deep lore should be in service to the characters, not an end to themselves.

Let me know of any other ways you put this idea into practice!

Plan for failure to allow for actual stakes

If the campaign story requires that the party win every fight, it can be tempting to hold back punches to ensure the party survives. But what’s the point of playing the game if you already know what will happen?

In order to allow for the possibility of failure, we need combats that are not fights to the death. Introducing different stakes to combat encounters helps keep them exciting and memorable.

For example:

• The players are trying to stop cultists from completing a ritual which progresses each turn they maintain concentration.
• Members of a Thieves’ Guild are trying to escape with an artifact they stole.

In these scenarios, the enemies have other objectives other than just killing the party, so it’s not the end of the world if the enemies succeed. It takes the story in a different and interesting direction. As a DM, you can give both sides a legitimate chance and see how it turns out. Success is only meaningful if there is chance of failure.

What other encounters or stakes have you used to great effect?

The Trap of Nested Plot Hooks

Especially with homebrew campaigns, I’ve noticed a tendency to have nested plot hooks. For example: The party is tasked with rescuing a princess. They visit a local wizard to gather information. In return the wizard wants them to retrieve a lost artifact. Finding the artifact requires a map which bandits currently have. Defeating the bandits requires recruiting allies. Each ally has a quest for the party. And so on. 

Six sessions into their campaign, the group has no idea what they’re doing or why they’re doing it. They barely even remember what their original goal is. It’s too complicated. Moreover, as the party completes each step, the rug is pulled out from under them as another obstacle is presented. 

What takeaways can we glean from this example?

1. A complicated plot is not the same as an interesting plot. You shouldn’t add content for the heck of it. Make sure each aspect of your campaign is adding value.
2. Plots shouldn’t be so complicated that your players can’t remember what’s going on. The players are not living in the world all the time like their characters are.
3. Players like making progress toward their goal. It’s fine if the goal takes a while to achieve, but the players should have an idea of the scope and the steps required up front. Otherwise delays and complications can feel deflating.
4. The reward for completing a task should not just be another task to complete. Each success should take the players closer to their goal so that they are incentivized and excited to continue.

You shouldn’t know everything that will happen

Many DMs talk about “creating the story along with their players.” While this idea sounds nice, it’s rather abstract and difficult to know how to put into practice. 

Here’s a simple way you can think about this: make sure there are “questions” within each session you do not know the answer to beforehand. In other words, you want to make sure the party has interesting and meaningful decisions to make.

For example:

• Will the players decide to free a demon who has been trapped in a dungeon for hundreds of years?
• Will the players catch up to the spy who is running to warn their guild?
• Will the players have enough time to stop the cultists from completing their ritual?
• Which faction (if any) will the party side with in the upcoming conflict?

In each case, you’ll want to give both sides a fighting chance. Neither outcome should derail the campaign (you’ll notice that none of the examples above are life or death situations). For instance, if the players fail to chase down a spy, they may be able to warn their guild of the party, ensuring they are not surprised going into combat. 

Players want their choices have a genuine effect on the story. The victories the players achieve are meaningful because there was a legitimate chance of failure. 

As a DM, it also help keeps you excited to run the game. It’s super fun to create an interesting choice and wonder what the players will do. This way you’re not just shepherding the players though a predetermined story. The players are helping to form the story with you. If you already know what’s going to happen, what’s the point of playing?

Ideally, we want to give the players as many meaningful choices as possible. But at a minimum, try to make sure each session has at least one key question you do not know the answer to.