forum The GM's Workshop

Started January 29, 2018 by @Noydian Slip

tune

Yeah, depending on the strength of the enemies, either go for the higher or lower number depending on how hard you want the encounter to be.

Thanks a lot! I'll be sure to keep that in mind!

It no problem and good luck with your game.

New DM here, and I'm gonna be running a campaign for the summer with my friends. So far, I know what three of my 6 (I think) friends will play (I'm trying to get the information so I can plan plot and story stuff in advance which I know will never happen because instead of the party fighting the orcs, they'll befriend all 15 of them [an example from a campaign I'm playing in.])
So I have a good concept in my head-the real world is the typical medieval D&D setting, and the Flipside is essentially where every person's deepest and darkest desires are materialized (I based it off of Persona Five…shhhhh.)
I was wondering, since I haven't yet, how do I/should I make my world, or is using a premade on reccomended for a new DM like me?

@Momentia ive only dmed casual games so i cant say much for worldbuilding, but if you want to do your own world go for it! imo premades seem pretty boring to dm and im sure your players will appreciate your own work more :)

@Momentia, hey it's me again, I'd say that if you feel comfortable putting in the work to make the world feel real then go for it. I also recommend keeping a notebook on hand so you can note all the things you say to players such as names, cities, and countries. I forgot and changed the name of one of the main NPC at least ten times before I started doing this.

Premades are easier, but as mentioned above also more boring from a DMing standpoint. they feel very one track vs the open-world style you get from homebrew.

Another tip make or find a map. In the last session, I set a map down and said "you are here." this opened up a lot of questions about the world since they can now see it and read the names of everything. and it brought into focus a large amount of land held by one the fractions. It allowed me to organically exposit information to them without monologing.

Homebrew also allows you to be completely control of events. example: my players when and watched a trusted NPC help a spy infiltrate the city. They had two options to intervene or not. after debating about the information they found early in the session they decided to let it happen. and left with a caravan the next morning to another country. Now this gives me a lot of control over the future of the city.
Most premade will say once they stop the spy then do this. Very rarely is there a countermeasure for not stoping the spies.

A homebrew is hard work, but if you do the work it will pay off. Have multiple things going on in the world and don't try and force charters into the story thread you think will be the most interesting because maybe to your players political problems might not be more interesting than going and checking out the country that is literally splitting down the middle, or searching for answers about towns that are just disappearing.

I recommend also keeping track of the quest they don't take. because those problems can get bigger in time and the longer charters ignore them the more impactful it might be if they hear about a town raided by zombies and skeletons and remember the quest to hunt down a necromancer.

Most importantly D&D is about telling a story and as l long as everyone at the table is enjoying the story then you are doing everything right. People play games to have fun, so just do your best to have fun.

AvaM_Star
P.S. I hope this is helpful.