New GM Looking For Advice

[Planeswalker]

Greetings all! My name is Sean, and I'm relatively new to the whole tabletop RPG genre, not just FG. I've been looking at videos on how to be a DM for PFRPG, 5E, 4E, 3.5, etc., but I come to you to ask how others set out to make their sessions fun, particularly when it comes to making a homebrew campaign. I'm no stranger to writing - in fact, I have already started on a scene-by-scene overview of a campaign designed to be long term (with margin and scope for the players to make changes based on their actions and decisions - i.e., I will allow players to direct where the story leads, within reason, and as long as certain key events can still possibly unfold that would enable the next module to begin).

The reason for this post is, I don't really know how in-depth I should go without being extraneous or underbuilt. Do DMs on FG tend to put a lot of emphasis on designing maps and graphics to illustrate locations or do you rely more on imagination and thoughtful description? Should I flesh out the irrelevant NPCs or just those who may have some input in the story? How deep do DMs (doing homebrew campaigns) go when creating the lore of their worlds? Any feedback would be appreciated, particularly from existing DMs, as I don't want to start out on a path destined to fail, just because I haven't added enough detail, or my lore is too complex to immerse players.

Thank you all, and I wish you all a very merry festive season. All the best, and good gaming in 2017.
~Planeswalker

[damned]

There are sooo many styles of GM to get tips from.
Ultimately the big things that decide how I do this tend to come down to....

1. Time.
2. Style of Game GM wants
3. Time.
4. Style of Game Players want
5. Time.

Over prep for many GMs can lead to frustration when that NPC is ignored, slain on site, not even met, that map you spent hours on and the players went the other direction, etc etc.

prep - but dont over prep. Be prepared to wing it and take notes of what things you winged so you can work them into your bigger picture campaign etc.

Have fun with it!

[Answulf]

The short answer is that each GM has their own style and emphasis, so this is not an easy question to answer. Not to just point you somewhere else, but I really think that far-and-away the best resource for you is YouTube. This guy's channel is awesome - it's like taking a course on GMing at Oxford:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Bon3zmann

Two other people worth searching for on YouTube are Matt Mercer and Matthew Colville. Mercer is a professional GM, and Colville has a series called Running the Game where he walks you step-by-step through GMing for the first time.

Those three are all generic GM advice, but there are also great videos specific to Fantasy Grounds - both tips on how to use it and just watching people playing RPGs on it.

Oh, and welcome to Fantasy Grounds and an awesome hobby!

[Planeswalker]

1. Time.
2. Style of Game GM wants
3. Time.
4. Style of Game Players want
5. Time.

Over prep for many GMs can lead to frustration when that NPC is ignored, slain on site, not even met, that map you spent hours on and the players went the other direction, etc etc.

I gathered that time and effort are a big factor - going to be putting in a lot of work into designing the story (which already has 3 arcs - during module one, the players are caught up in their own little arc of 'being the good guys in the war against evil plots', and moving on, they will uncover secret political organizations seeking to either manipulate them or destroy them (depending on their actions throughout the campaign, and an overarching puppetmaster who is not only manipulating the politics of nations, but also manipulating the beast-tribes using his own powers and abilities) and main NPCs that players should encounter. The storylines would be... slowly revealed so as not to overwhelm players with information that doesn't relate to the task at hand - if they choose to delve and explore the lore of the world by their own volition - I will not hide it from them.

I guess that my biggest fear is that somehow players will bypass content, such as deeply written NPCs who are supposed to be a key aid for the players or villain, but I can accept such a possibility.

Ansbach - Thanks for the tip - I will be sure to check out those channels, and hopefully I will learn a fair bit from them!
Thanks both for the feedback! :D

[Apolala]

Welcome to FG, there's some good tips here already.
I would like to add one thing about prepping that worked well for me as I'm a compulsive over prepper by nature. And that's "Sly Flourish's The Lazy Dungeon Master" by Michael E. Shea, a cheap but well written book with techniques on how to prep and run games. (here's a preview of the book (https://slyflourish.com/lazydm/lazy_dm_preview.pdf)). As I found myself railroading the players when I started out by writing scenes and stories, that in the end wasn't fun for the players.

Also an other thing to look into is what system fits best to the story you want to play/tell.

[Planeswalker]

Welcome to FG, there's some good tips here already.
I would like to add one thing about prepping that worked well for me as I'm a compulsive over prepper by nature. And that's "Sly Flourish's The Lazy Dungeon Master" by Michael E. Shea, a cheap but well written book with techniques on how to prep and run games. (here's a preview of the book (https://slyflourish.com/lazydm/lazy_dm_preview.pdf)). As I found myself railroading the players when I started out by writing scenes and stories, that in the end wasn't fun for the players.

Also an other thing to look into is what system fits best to the story you want to play/tell.

Thanks for the tip. Once the holiday season is over and done with, I'll consider getting a copy. :)

If anyone doesn't mind disclosing - how much effort do most DMs put into the maps for homebrew campaigns? I'm not an artist to be honest, and I don't know what most people expect.

[damned]

Thanks for the tip. Once the holiday season is over and done with, I'll consider getting a copy. :)

If anyone doesn't mind disclosing - how much effort do most DMs put into the maps for homebrew campaigns? I'm not an artist to be honest, and I don't know what most people expect.

I would try to put in no more time in prep than you do in playing. So if you play fortnightly for 4 hours then 2-4 hours prep should be able to see you thru :)
You might have a little in-between game chatter too on email or g+ or other place where all your players gather.

[LordEntrails]

How much time for maps?
Well, I use CC3+, and I'm not proficient with it at all, I spend about 1 to 20 hours per map. The 1 hour maps look like ... but they get the job done. Either as a battle map or a regional etc. The 20 hour maps are pretty, by no means professional, but good enough for DMsG publishing.

[Planeswalker]

How much time for maps?
Well, I use CC3+, and I'm not proficient with it at all, I spend about 1 to 20 hours per map. The 1 hour maps look like ... but they get the job done. Either as a battle map or a regional etc. The 20 hour maps are pretty, by no means professional, but good enough for DMsG publishing.

Thank you! If I can afford it, I will probably invest in the campaign, city and dungeon bundle - looks like just the thing I'm looking for. :)

@damned: Hopefully I'll not get too worked up about the prep. 2-4 hours sounds like a lot, but as a writer, it is hard to prep content that lasts 4 hours in 4 hours. I remember in an old text-based RP I played out with friends that content that took a week to write, over 5-6 hours a day, was exhausted in maybe two days of playing. That's why I'm planning on getting at least the first few modules written up, with various sidequests to pad out what could be played out over a couple of sessions.

Again, thank you all for the helpful advice - got a lot of new reading/reference materials to go through now :)

[GunnarGreybeard]

Thanks for the tip. Once the holiday season is over and done with, I'll consider getting a copy. :)

If anyone doesn't mind disclosing - how much effort do most DMs put into the maps for homebrew campaigns? I'm not an artist to be honest, and I don't know what most people expect.
I'm no artist either so I just pilfer them off the internet. There are a multitude of maps out there. Just search and find ones that fit your encounter/dungeon idea and tweak your text/story stuff to fit them. I do that and it saves me a ton of time.

[damned]

Thank you! If I can afford it, I will probably invest in the campaign, city and dungeon bundle - looks like just the thing I'm looking for. :)

@damned: Hopefully I'll not get too worked up about the prep. 2-4 hours sounds like a lot, but as a writer, it is hard to prep content that lasts 4 hours in 4 hours. I remember in an old text-based RP I played out with friends that content that took a week to write, over 5-6 hours a day, was exhausted in maybe two days of playing. That's why I'm planning on getting at least the first few modules written up, with various sidequests to pad out what could be played out over a couple of sessions.

Again, thank you all for the helpful advice - got a lot of new reading/reference materials to go through now :)

Get your plot down, get your key actor names and key descriptors, a few key descriptors for your important locations.

You will need the main combatants ready in FG. 9/10 of these will be straight from the MM (or SRD).
Prep 2-4 encounters - if they dont use one or two this session youve still got them as backups.
Have a couple of generic maps - a campsite, a fork in the road, an ambush site on the road, a wayside shrine, a bridge crossing with toll house whatever.

YOU dont have to make the whole story up and you sure as heck dont want to be the only one talking. At various points - that wont break your main campaign - dont be afraid to ask one of the players "what do you see?", "why does that guard look familiar to you?", "what happened last time you were here?" - ask these questions of a specific player and ask a different player each time. You might find a player that doesnt enjoy that interaction - dont pressure them and dont keep asking them (although as time goes by they may want to give it a go). The players can add interesting colour and ideas and plots and total misdirection to your game AND give you thinking space.

[kalmarjan]

Advice? Let's see. The first thing you should read is the Lazy Dungeon Master. That book is GOLD.

After that, I'll tell you what I do.

I use a mix of FG, Evernote, Google, the forums, Reddit, The Cartographer's Guild, OneDrive, and Dropbox to organize everything.

My main idea "File Drawer" is Evernote. I simply create a tag, and save that tag, and put all my ideas under that tag. When I need something, I'll call it up by clicking on that tag. For instance, I run Crossroads. (See my sig) I have over 3000 notes in my Evernote file that I clip mercilessly. Pictures, quotes, story seeds, news items, etc... whatever. It goes into there.

After that, it is PURELY player driven. I have some huge news for you. You are ALREADY looking in the right direction. I also have some cold, hard news for you.

Players kinda care about your world, but they definitely care about their own. The amount that they care about your world is directly proportionate to how much it caters to theirs.

So, one trick I've used in the past is, at character creation... ask for 3 things about that character in a note that isn't a game stat, or affects the character's abilities in any way. In FG, simply get them to create a note called "Three things." It could be a past history tidbit, as simple as saying "I want all the treasure and to kill everything that moves" or "I want to find where Aunt Sally hid her magic nose goblins.." Whatever. The note will only be between you and the player.

THESE NOTES ARE GOLD. You will immediately see what kind of players you have.

Then USE those tidbits to write your adventures.

Sure, have an overaching plot. But don't MARRY IT. Leave it open ended. Look through your player's notes, and their character sheets for backgrounds. You will be inspired.

Then the rest is simple. IN EVERY session, try to give your player a nugget closer to that goal they wrote. Even if it's a published adventure you are running, when you read though it, think on what the players want. Maybe they want to find out what happened to their dad. Why did he leave him? Maybe the main villain will know her father from way back. Maybe you can even throw in a twist, a "Yes, and what you didn't know was... your father was conscripted into the same evil army that I was, and we served together under the Dark Lord until our defeat at the hands of the Light Lord. He always said he loved you, but I can't figure he'd like the snivelling you!"

Can you imagine how much fun it would be for that player to wipe the floor with that villain? The story almost writes itself.

Plus, you'll see who is a casual gamer, and just wants to chuck some dice and kill things. Or maybe one's a puzzle solver, or a budding roleplayer. Spend your time figuring that out, and you'll know what to give to make the game fun for them (and ultimately, for you too!)

From there, with the Core pack from FG, it's literally drag and drop. If something needs to change on the fly? No problem. You can adjust on the fly, and FG will take care of it for you.

Oh, and don't forget that FG comes with ready to use battlemaps, and tokens too!

Good luck, if there is anything you need, give me a holler. If I see the email for the message, I'll respond.

[Planeswalker]

Players kinda care about your world, but they definitely care about their own. The amount that they care about your world is directly proportionate to how much it caters to theirs.

So, one trick I've used in the past is, at character creation... ask for 3 things about that character in a note that isn't a game stat, or affects the character's abilities in any way. In FG, simply get them to create a note called "Three things." It could be a past history tidbit, as simple as saying "I want all the treasure and to kill everything that moves" or "I want to find where Aunt Sally hid her magic nose goblins.." Whatever. The note will only be between you and the player.

THESE NOTES ARE GOLD. You will immediately see what kind of players you have.

Then USE those tidbits to write your adventures.

Sure, have an overaching plot. But don't MARRY IT. Leave it open ended. Look through your player's notes, and their character sheets for backgrounds. You will be inspired.

Then the rest is simple. IN EVERY session, try to give your player a nugget closer to that goal they wrote. Even if it's a published adventure you are running, when you read though it, think on what the players want. Maybe they want to find out what happened to their dad. Why did he leave him? Maybe the main villain will know her father from way back. Maybe you can even throw in a twist, a "Yes, and what you didn't know was... your father was conscripted into the same evil army that I was, and we served together under the Dark Lord until our defeat at the hands of the Light Lord. He always said he loved you, but I can't figure he'd like the snivelling you!"

Can you imagine how much fun it would be for that player to wipe the floor with that villain? The story almost writes itself.

Thank you for your advice. I really do want the players to have their characters shape the world, not create a solid questline (this must happen, followed by this event, followed by this fight) - players should be free to explore the game world, as I imagine is the goal for all DMs, as long as they can create interesting events. The overarching plot is purely to imply a... impending sense of duty in the face of a great threat - obviously players wouldn't be expected to take on that role straightaway, but as time goes by, I want the players to see that their input into the story, or possibly, the lack of it, because they are all off spending their days fighting bandits in the woods, or delving into the shady underbelly of Korundam's Black Markets, those consequences are felt by the PCs and reflected in the behaviour and circumstance of the NPCs that populate the world. I'm trying to design rough paths that reflect what would happen over time without input from the PCs (as if they had never existed), and then meld the world session by session to reflect what the immediate aftermath of each scene would present to the players next.

Again, thanks for the responses. Spent about 4 hours watching Bon3zmann videos this morning, on being a better storyteller - thanks @Ansbach!

Update on what I've done so far:
1) Upgraded my license to Ultimate.
2) Made sure that I now have the Core Class and Monster Packs (PHB, DMG and MM) for 5E.
3) Got a copy of the Lazy DM, and also Sly Flourish's DM Tips.
4) Purchased copies of Campaign Cartographer 3, City Designer 3, and Dungeon Designer 3 - currently downloading.
Gotta love Christmas presents, right?

[Ken L]

Lots of good advice, I believe this topic has arisen several times prior if you want to run through the history.

In addition to the prior posts, and history you can find. I'd put in my two cents that when prepping, prep 'vaguely' to allow you to build your world as needed if you're doing a homebrew setting. Be prepared to wing it on the spot as your players will go off the beaten path to forge their own adventure.

It's really about how much freedom you want to allow for your players. The more degrees of freedom you offer requires a proportionate amount of prep time so find your comfort zone in this area.

Most importantly, remember that you have to have fun too, so don't overextend yourself with accommodations. It is after all a game you've put together.

I tend to straddle a middle ground of sorts, but the games I currently and previously ran usually have a high degree of freedom within the scope of the setting. I just end up winging many of the unexpected encounters as they occur; you gain a knack for it after awhile.

[Hurske]

Ill give my 2 cents, plus, it looks like you are about to become one of my players ;)

Don't ever say, as a GM that you don't care. I believe this is something, Matthew Colville said, if you encounter someone on the road, a tavern or whichever place, and he just happens to be some random NPC with absolute no importance. If for some reason, your players want to know more about this guy, don't say those words. It can remove someone from the immersion that they might be in the setting. Plus, interesting ideas can come from NPC's that are given on the spot personalities, my Sundered Skies group can contest to that, with their new helmsman.

Also, always be prepared to having your plans go out the window, and you being blindsided by player choices and actions. Rarely, will things go completely smooth for you, that you imagined. You as a GM, will always have the full knowledge of situations, things going on, and events that are happening. Players can and will see their own interpretation from what you express to them. Something you think that is very important, players might wave off as being nothing, and they will go after a small aspect of your world or session that you didn't even think was important yourself.

[Zhern]

How much time for maps?
Well, I use CC3+, and I'm not proficient with it at all, I spend about 1 to 20 hours per map. The 1 hour maps look like ... but they get the job done. Either as a battle map or a regional etc. The 20 hour maps are pretty, by no means professional, but good enough for DMsG publishing.

I envy your patience with CC3+. I absolutely hate the interface. I'm sure they have patched issues with Win10 by now also, but when I first moved to Win10, CC3+ would crash regularly. I might have to give it another look, but damn do I wish the interface wasn't setup like it is. It needs a serious UI overhaul because it is not user friendly in the least.

[Nylanfs]

It's based on a CAD program, which doesn't lend itself to being user friendly.

[kalmarjan]

For the learning curve involved, dundjinni filled that problem. It was when I switched to Photoshop that I became the happiest.

[Zhern]

double post

[Zhern]

Thank you for your advice. I really do want the players to have their characters shape the world, not create a solid questline (this must happen, followed by this event, followed by this fight) - players should be free to explore the game world, as I imagine is the goal for all DMs, as long as they can create interesting events. The overarching plot is purely to imply a... impending sense of duty in the face of a great threat - obviously players wouldn't be expected to take on that role straightaway, but as time goes by, I want the players to see that their input into the story, or possibly, the lack of it, because they are all off spending their days fighting bandits in the woods, or delving into the shady underbelly of Korundam's Black Markets, those consequences are felt by the PCs and reflected in the behaviour and circumstance of the NPCs that populate the world. I'm trying to design rough paths that reflect what would happen over time without input from the PCs (as if they had never existed), and then meld the world session by session to reflect what the immediate aftermath of each scene would present to the players next.

Again, thanks for the responses. Spent about 4 hours watching Bon3zmann videos this morning, on being a better storyteller - thanks @Ansbach!

Update on what I've done so far:
1) Upgraded my license to Ultimate.
2) Made sure that I now have the Core Class and Monster Packs (PHB, DMG and MM) for 5E.
3) Got a copy of the Lazy DM, and also Sly Flourish's DM Tips.
4) Purchased copies of Campaign Cartographer 3, City Designer 3, and Dungeon Designer 3 - currently downloading.
Gotta love Christmas presents, right?

I try to limit my prep to no more than 1 hour. When I say 1 hour, I mean for outlining any kind of plot or story elements. I try to keep the details of this part to a minimum because I want to make sure that my players don't have to go down a specific path. Most of the time, I make a bullet point list of possibilities and will reference that during play. I'll also create a list of rumors, possible random encounters for different areas in my world - all of this takes very little time because, as I mentioned, I keep the details to a minimum. It took me a long time to realize that I could improvise and didn't need to keep my players on a linear path. I make sure to jot down a few notes as things progress but I rely on my players to keep a campaign journal that we can all reference during the course of play (usually this is transposed from shorthand to readable notes after the session).

While I don't usually run a specific module, I'll sometimes pull in ideas from published modules that fit within my world. I do keep a rather extensive library that I call my Campaign Toolbox. Within it are my favorite books, be they campaign settings, class supplements, random tables, flavor material, and more. In this library, system doesn't matter. It has stuff from RuneQuest, Mythras, Pathfinder, 0e/1e/BX/BECMI/2e/3.xe/5e, 13th Age, Call of Cthulhu, C&C, Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Osric, Crypts & Things, Astounding Swordsmen & Sorcerors of Hyperborea, Conan (Mongoose & Modiphius), Howard, Derleth, Blackwood, Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Moor****, Lieber, Wagner, and much more. The meat of these items are the information contained within. If the information is good, it can easily be applied to any setting and system. Additionally, as you see above, I have stories in there as well that I have used for inspiration. I also have comics in there that have provided the same types of inspiration.

Much like kalmarjan, I use a variety of tools, among them are OneNote, Google Drive, a variety of historical texts, song lyrics, Wikipedia, Cartographer's Guild, Sublime Text (for anytime I need to create or convert something from a different edition, I put it into a webpage or wiki so I can keep track of it easily if for some unknown occurrence that I cannot access my Google Drive - in which case, the world has ended), Excel/Google Sheets, FG, RealmWorks (but I'm going to check out the extensions from Dulux-Oz that provide FG very similar functionality as RealmWorks), Acrobat, Photoshop and Pinterest, where I keep several boards of stuff that also provide inspiration.

I highlighted something in your list above - The Lazy GM. This is a very, very good reference that I keep as part of my Campaign Toolbox. It was after reading through that text that I started slimming down on my story/plot prep. It helped me alter my style and I think become a better GM for it. I would also recommend looking into the PDFs that Creighton Broadhurst & Raging Swan put out. They are short lists of 10-20 different things that can easily be slapped into any setting. You can find more here:


Gaming Advice/ (https://www.creightonbroadhurst.com/gaming-advice/)
GM Advice/ (https://www.creightonbroadhurst.com/gaming-advice/gm-advice/)
Free Resources - tons of 10-20 item lists (https://www.ragingswan.com/free-resources/)
Raging Swan PDFs sorted by price (free first) (https://www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?keywords=raging%20swan&test_epoch=0&page=1&sort=3a)


Anyway, hope my ramble helps. More than anything, find what works for you and go with it. But always remember, your players need to be entertained but so do you as the GM. If you aren't having fun, try a different method.

[kalmarjan]

DOE sounds like a cool extension, I'll have to check it out!

[Ken L]

See

https://theangrygm.com/

Sound advice there, with snarky attitude which makes it entertaining as you level your chops.

[poobah_1]

I am one of those DM's who probably spend too much time in prep.

It does tend to drive the parties in a more linear direction, and that turns players off. So I would echo other's comments in prepping enough to flesh out the overarching plot, and prep the parcels and encounters to meet demand. But spending lots of time on specific NPC's can lead the DM to a very linear direction, which defeats the purpose...

So prep time should be spend on the things that take time to formulate on the fly....parcels, encounters, items descriptions that are out norm, and interject your creativity where it counts, in the story telling and bringing life to the encounters through the primary job of the DM...Playing the NPC's.

At least that is my 2 cents

PooBah

[Answulf]

I want to give a big thumbs up for using One Note as a GM!

Obviously each person is different, but of all the tools I've used in the past 30+ years One Note is far-and-away my favorite. It's great for so many things - organizing, note taking, brainstorming, capturing images and maps - everything you need. Plus it's free with Windows 10 and has a great mobile app that it syncs with in case you get ideas on the go.

Here's an example of how I use it. As an added bonus, the screenshot will also give you insight into how much I prep for a game (not a lot) and my method :D:

17057


I think every GM owes it to themselves to give One Note a try and see if they like it.

Somewhat related advice - a picture is worth a thousand words; maps and images online are one of your absolute best tools for sparking adventure ideas. Pinterest is an amazing tool for online GMs!