I had the honor of helping a blossoming Dungeon Master (in terms of the popular format Paizo or Wizards of the Coast calls “Dungeons and Dragons,” though in any other platform you could debatably call them a “Game Master”) organize his game in a way that would be most conducive to fun gameplay while promoting a coherent plot. He has been a long time veteran of my games, all the way back when I started in 8th grade (I’ve come… a very long way since then). He had so many cool ideas for a Drow campaign, but didn’t know how to bring it all together in a way that his players could fluidly follow along but still have freedom like in my games (knuckles to shoulder smugly…). I can say with pride that I have made players cry on at least six occasions my story weaving has been so powerful (I rarely brag, but that is something I’m fucking PROUD of). So he asked for my help. The advice I passed on seemed to really help, and the more I explained it down to technical terms, the more I thought, “Damn, I need to write this shit down.”
So I pass onto you some of my wisdom.
Step One: Identify Your Audience
If you know what kind of players that are going to be running around in your world, you’ll have an idea of what kind of challenges are going to appeal to each of them. Some examples include:
The Actor: This player loves to roleplay, and thrives in social banters, be it with their Charisma or just to dick around and act in ways they couldn’t in real life. Expect them to explore every detail of the environment they are in, and also expect to come up with stupid shit they pick up on on the fly (example: “You pass by a woman in the market –” “I approach her. ‘Hello lady, what are you doing? Who are you? Why do you have that dog? What’s you’re name? What do you do for a living?'” “…Dude, it’s just a bystander.” “Is she going to be rude to me?” “Sigh… no, her name is… Delilah and she uh… she’s the blacksmith’s wife and uh… her dog is a pitpull named Fluffy.”) This player likes A LOT of attention. They could literally be any alignment.
The Optimizer: Commonly called a “Rules Lawyer,” this player likes to crank out awesome numbers in combat or skills, and knows every feat and combination of abilities to score modified rolls at least 10 points over what is normal for their level, if not more. They like “kick-in-the-door” style play and may not roleplay much. Expect to enforce a “Broken Character” clause on these guys if they get out of hand. They’ll probably play an alignment that allows them the best leg up, in the Neutral range, sometimes Lawful.
The Socializer: This player is there just because everybody else is and has fun just being in the group. They may not have the rules memorized or even know them very well so they may need help in character creation or leveling. Sometimes they fade to the background when their not rolling, doesn’t interject often without prompting and will most likely be the one making dice towers while everyone else is shouting about what would constitute as a +1 morale bonus to their roll. This player almost always selects Neutral as their alignment.
The Runaway Train: This player will derail you in two seconds if you don’t keep an eye on them. One minute they’ll be questioning an NPC for an investigation, the next minute they’ll be egging a noble’s house whilst covered in the blood and ash of an unplanned rampage involving indiscriminate arson and murder. Giving them downtime or solo dialogue is an incredibly risky move that could cost you the rest of that gaming session trying to get the party back on track with your intended story line. They will almost always be either Chaotic or Evil (often both). Expect movie quotes and sing alongs to what usually boils down to violent solutions to problems you present that could have just as easily been solved with a simple Diplomacy check.
Step Two: Know Every Aspect of Your World
This is especially important if you have an Actor in your party. If you’re running a mod, MEMORIZE THAT MAP. Know every nook and cranny of the city or region you’ll be starting your characters in and expect them to explore. The more sandbox you make it, the more authentic it feels. Know what comes next, especially if the Runaway Train gets it in their head that they don’t give two flying fucks about what the rest of the party is supposed to be doing and goes in the complete opposite direction.
Step Three: Motivation
This is why backstory is SO IMPORTANT. Unless you’re playing strictly “kick-in-the-door” style, the player’s characters are going to need a reason to stick with the main plot you have laid out or I promise you this: they won’t. Stroke the Actor’s ego by pulling in an aspect of a long lost family in their six page story they wrote about their character. Get the Socializer out of the background by dangling some sort of carrot in front of them. Give the Runaway train a reason to keep themselves in check. Promise numerical bonuses to the Optimizer. What I often do is ask each player to comprise a three to six item “Wish List,” be it equipment or character development. If all else fails to move the plot in a desired direction, pull out the list and make one of their desires a reward (given their not level 2 and they have requested the Ruby Rod of Asmodeus).
Three go to’s I use to ensnare — I MEAN GUIDE — my players can be summed up as follows:
The NPC Pool: Actors love this. Create a few key NPCs. Really pound them out, and give them a tie to a character. Develop a love interest (risky sometimes, but well worth it if you can pull it off), give them a skill the party needs them exclusively for or access to something on their Wish List. This works best when you can emotionally embed them into the player’s minds, getting them attached. Then when you need to fuel the story, send the NPC they care about in the direction you want them to follow. Works every time. Emotional build up takes a few sessions unless it’s written into a backstory, but if you time it right, you can really pack a wallop with their actions, even a death if you really need to put on the gas. Pro Tip: NEVER make them all powerful, or the players might think you’re on an ego trip. If the NPC always outshines the players, they will feel resentment towards them. Give them a glaring weakness, let them fail or need help and let the players see them make mistakes. Make them relatable at least on that level.
Insult to Injury: This can even motivate the Socializer so long as their somewhat invested in the success of their character. This again utilizes the use of an NPC, but from a villainous standpoint. Identify the antagonist, but as soon as you possibly can, make the party loathe them. Give them the ability to blackmail, bully and antagonize the character in question as much as possible. This is the one time it is okay to completely drive a character into the dirt with one caveat: you MUST grant the opportunity for revenge. Kick them in the ego, shred their pride with a rusty grate and them watch them tear after this villain, eager for the chance to return the justice. Don’t let the villain get away too many times; allow the players to exact the revenge they so heatedly desire. If one of them utters, “FUCK this guy!!” in frustration, you have created an effective means to drive them to act in a manner that will thwart this NPC at any cost. Direct in desired plot direction.
Tangible Reward: The most common thing an Optimizer will whine is, “What’s in it for me?” If that player is being stubborn for stubborn’s sake, offer them something they can’t refuse. Bust out the Wish List and pick something to be an end goal for them, even if the only reason you can think of to get this goddamned stick in the mud to go to the Ruins of Avandor is “You know that +4 sonic burst blade you wanted? Well it’s there, so go fucking get it, loser.” If the item in question is too powerful, promise it, but have it turn out to be something else more appropriate for their level, a counterfeit or those wishes they wanted from that lamp being granted by an extraordinarily fickle and sarcastic genie that will twist their words around and make them regret it (though don’t deny them at least a little bit of a bonus. A reward isn’t genuine if they get dicked in the end. If you have them chasing the carrot, let them have a bite now and then or they’ll stop chasing it).
Step Three: Choice Branching (ACCOUNT FOR EVERYTHING)
This is by far the most important part of planning as a GM. Many GMs make the mistake of putting their players in a constant “Railroad,” never giving them the chance to go off in another direction. This is tinder for a fire that the Runaway Train will ignite in an instant if they get too restless. Once a tangent is gone off on with no choice branches back, you’ve lost your plot and you’ll have to plan from bare bones and scratch for next session with no build up from previous sessions.
So what do I mean by “choice branches?” Imagine a strait line, point A to point B. This is the main plot. But only one choice to follow is frankly put, boring. Allow different routes to branch off in order to get to point B. My base line is always three, but could be more, especially if something happens that you haven’t accounted for (in which case you will have to come up with shit on the fly to get things back on track. If you have Step Two down, this may not be too difficult, but if you don’t have proper motivation in place, kiss your story goodbye).
Say you give three choices to arrive at a common goal, the Main Plot route, deviation C and deviation D. Three solutions to a problem, usually catered to the play style your players have. Usually social, combat or sneaky respectively. Allow all three to get them to point B and let them choose! This of course, may result in a Tangent, in which case the players continue to branch away from the plot. If you can’t come around from point E back to the plot, you may have lost control and have to reroute the main plot to follow the Tangent.
This could also be performance based, so the pressure is on to roll well. If they fail, it’s not a try, try again until you succeed. Something happens to send them off in a different branch and the other is forever lost. This being said… ALWAYS ACCOUNT FOR COMPLETE AND UTTER FAILURE AND OVER THE TOP SUCCESS. That is, natural 1s and natural 20s. This makes the players feel like their actions, be it by choice or by roll, have an impact on the immediate story, though the overall plot arc remains intact if you can branch both amazing success and utter defeat back to the Main Plot (perhaps with an extra step if no one can seem to roll over a 9).
This being said, don’t punish for poor rolls too often. Comedic relief is amazing, especially with spectacular failure. Pruning player ego so it’s just right is tricky. Make it too easy all the time and they’ll get cocky. Make it too hard all the time and they’ll become discouraged.
Finally, create consequences for each branch followed. Let the Runaway Train deal with the traitorous noble by burning down their house, sure. But the next day have a bounty out on their head from the Watch and have investigators hounding their steps (even make a new tertiary plot! But beware those Tangents!)
If you found this helpful (or at least entertaining), leave a like and if you request more insight, I’ll happily write more about it! My schedule got crazy busy with school, so updates might be every two weeks like they’ve been … but I’m throwing around the idea of another review next post.
Peace Out
~DMGhost
AKA synesthesia
featured image by MoulinBleu on Deviantart
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