A question about DM-ing styles

[Slendertroll]

Bugs' last post reminded me of another thing about my DM style. I don't like the players knowing more about the world than I, which is why I only use homebrew worlds, which then requires some degree of worldbuilding on my part. I don't want to be blindsided by a player saying, "oh, this town should have this guy, who happens to know XYZ, so we should go talk to him" or "oh, there's a cave on this mountain that is famous for having XYZ," or "oh, there's an oracle like half an hour from here; let's go talk from them instead of whatever." I have a player who keeps reading tertiary canon from the internet about the default 4e world, and saying, "oh, dragonborn actually have this culture and are like this." I keep asking where she got that information: was it from my campaign notes? "No, it was from..." "Then it's not canon." Last session I actually had to tell her that "the rulebooks aren't canon." To be fair, I did tell my players this up front, but I'm still not sure she knows I'm not kidding. This is probably obnoxious on my part, but at least I know everything there is to know about the world and have complete freedom to make things up when I need to. I don't like to be shackled to someone else's creative vision.

 

Oh, and as for XP, I just have my players split XP evenly. 500XP worth of monsters? Each PC gets 100XP. Everyone levels up at once; no one gets further ahead than anyone else; everyone's happy. The only time I've regretted this was when one player pulled out a hell of an improvised in-character interrogation and I wished I could give him bonus XP, but I think it's a pretty good system overall.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Slendertroll

[Nocturne]

I always use homebrew worlds for that very same reason Slendertroll.

 

It's also reminded me that I ended up having to outright ban the Quintessential books from Mongoose at one point. I was in a group where three of us took turns DM-ing, we had used them for a while to great effect, unfortunately one player then went out and bought all of them and it quickly descended into an unmanageable mess.

[TGP]

I have done both the world building approach and the standard setting approach.

 

Bugs' last post reminded me of another thing about my DM style. I don't like the players knowing more about the world than I, which is why I only use homebrew worlds, which then requires some degree of worldbuilding on my part.

 

I don't want to be blindsided by a player saying,

• "oh, this town should have this guy, who happens to know XYZ, so we should go talk to him" or
• "oh, there's a cave on this mountain that is famous for having XYZ," or
• "oh, there's an oracle like half an hour from here; let's go talk from them instead of whatever."

[... added bullets ...]

 

It is annoying if a player tries to 'help out' like that. The three scenarios above are easily dealt with, though:

1. Let the party seek out 'The Guy', they find a beggar child who knows where to find him (for 5 GP), the kid takes them to the cemetery and they can read the epitaph carved on his mausoleum...
2. Let the party seek out The Cave and be the first to discover that the entrance has collapsed!
3. Let the party seek out The Oracle only to find that the sacred stream has dried up -or- the place is besieged by a tribe of Kobolds -or- it has been sacked by and is now the lair of a Dragon. (Unexpected Dragon activity would work for number 2 as well, e.g: "or be the first adventurers to discover that the cave is now the lair of a fearsome Dragon.)

 

A few 'signs' like those ( which all basically say: "Under New Management" ) and the party will be properly cautious of printed materials or stuff they read on the internet.

[Egg of Coot]

But I also dislike canned settings. I would not DM at all unless freed from the shackles of Forgotten Realms. I really hate that place. Well, technically I hate all of them - I just hate that one most.

 

It all depends on the setting. I agree that the Forgotten Realms is completely straitjacketed - high level NPCs swarm over the land, and even the town beggar in the smallest of villages moonlights as a Paladin Lord. But there are other options. I've grown rather fond of the old Wilderlands setting from Judges Guild - sourcebooks provide some maps and some very rough guidelines - and that is it. Everything else is up to the DM.

 

The Egg

[Shogun]

Really enjoying this thread. Great tips.

 

Like @doug I don't give out xp. it's 5 more pages we have to print for there chars on the character builder. If you wanna change chars.. $3. They level every 6 levels.

 

I use "the nentir vale" from 4e. It's a sandbox has maps etc and I feel I can make it my own. Also I enjoy throwing a written adventure from time to time. I prefer to spend time painting rather then preparing so its all improv and it sometimes helps the game "steady". I'm going to start running "reavers of harkenwold" for my new group (ran it for another group few years back .. Great fun). It also means if some one wants to try the dm seat I can say try run this encounter..

 

I've got a month to prepare (mainly painting minis for it) any tips on things I should concentrate on? Any props/hand outs that are super fun?

[Slendertroll]

Oh, another thing I do is grab all the free supplements I can get my hands on. I might or might not use any/some/all of the ideas, but I can always grab one idea or encounter or monster from it, and I don't feel any guilt about not using it. DriveThruRPG is good for this. They have a bunch of system-agnostic resources for free, and one free product per week. It's little-to-no effort on my part, but I've grabbed a few neat ideas from these resources.

 

I can't imagine paying more than a buck or two for fluff.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Slendertroll

[TGP]

One thing I did once upon a time to create a setting was to turn my home stomping grounds into the campaign area. I traced a highway map and then (made-up word alert:) "medievalized" it.

• Any place that had Faux Tudor architecture became a farmhouse, an Inn, or a mill.
• There was a Steak and Ale restaurant that turned into the "Inn of the Green Falcon" which served as the party's base camp for awhile.
• Freeway interchanges became strange wyrd places with olde standing stones.
• Interstates became "King's Highways" e.g: little used dirt tracks cutting through the wilderness.
• Regions where sky scrapers were located became zones with giant rock pillars.
• Airports became areas labeled: "Here there be Dragons..."
• Shopping centres with distinctive architecture got turned into ruined temples.
• Rivers and Lakes were left as is or in some cases widened.

It was like having the benefits of a pre-made setting but the critical details remained totally improvised and DM created.

edits: fixed typo(s) in first line; added rivers and lakes; hid all the bbc code that turned up out of nowhere

Edited September 24, 2013 by TGP

[Loim]

The world I'm currently traipsing around in through the grace of my PBP players is a home brew. A lot of the history is already set, because it was done so by previous players. I spend some time fleshing it out because it's my baby, and I love it. Also some of the players who helped make it so are interested. I am also more comfortable making changes I want to a world I create. When I do, I don't have to worry about someone popping up screaming, "But it says right here in Forgotten Realms Ultimate Unleashed Universe: The Drizzitening that half-goblin barbarian/rogue/sorceror/bards can never be Lawful Psycho, they can only be Chaotic Neuro!" Having said that, I find a highly detailed world useful, but only in so far as I like to have a reference for when players ask one of "those" questions. You know the one you didn't think about beforehand, like what are the days of the week? What year is it? Why is this giant, evil, undead dragon trying to eat my face?I personally am not a rule lawyer, or as Doug pointed out, an accountant. I don't really care to nitpick most things. However, if it makes it more fun for the players, I'm all for it.

 

I don't by any means think I'm the best DM I can be. I'm always open to suggestions. I just hope my players have as much fun telling their stories as I do.

 

I'm not above taking something I see, read, or hear from someone, filing off the serial numbers, changing the body lines a bit, and using it.

[ShadowRaven]

I've never thought of using road maps, but I do use real world maps, and add my own details. Seeing how none of my group are on these forums, I feel safe to say that, for example, the elven nation is centered on a part of Vancouver Island that I spend a lot of time. The main dwarven kingdoms are built on another bit of the local arm of the Rocky mountains, I've got parts of Idaho and Montana and some of the Lake Superior shoreline on the go. Not to mention maps of medieval towns and cities. Change the names and no one recognizes London or Calais, or parts of Switzerland and Bavaria (the dwarves)

[TGP]

Somehow I blew up my previous post

 

...(wasn't easy, but, went back and restored it. I think I got it back to original condition.)

Edited September 24, 2013 by TGP

[Dadcubed]

Ok. So on systems and editions. I am liking swords and wizardry but going to splice in anything else I like from other editions. What editions / system do you use and why? What are the strengths / weaknesses and as anyone test played D&D Next and what are their thoughts? :)

[Loim]

I like Swords and Wizardry pretty well. Right now I'm using 2e because I'm most familiar with it. I'd really love to run some Pathfinder.

[Slendertroll]

I really love 4e. Everyone can contribute an equal amount, albeit in different ways, and there's just so much less prep time for the DM. Balance (especially with the later version of the monster math) is pretty good, but there's a good variety of stuff to do.

[Doug Sundseth]

I mostly run Pathfinder these days. It's a good compromise between what I want (lots of switches to flip and dials to twiddle) and accessibility for casual players. With the right group, I'd be playing Hero System, though, because it has exactly the right sort of customization for me, and because it's designed to make it relatively easy to incapacitate characters but fairly difficult to unintentionally kill them.

 

If I were looking for a really easy system to run, I wouldn't pick either, but that's not a major priority for me.

[buglips*the*goblin]

Ok. So on systems and editions. I am liking swords and wizardry but going to splice in anything else I like from other editions. What editions / system do you use and why? What are the strengths / weaknesses and as anyone test played D&D Next and what are their thoughts? :)

 

 

I play mutant 2nd edition with 20 years of house rules on everything from tumbling to at will powers. I don't even know what to call it. Buglips Edition, maybe.