Metagaming – everything that happens outside of the game – is going to happen.  There is nothing you can do as a player or DM to stop it.  Whether it is simply the players discussing what roles they want their characters to play in the upcoming campaign (in order to build a well-rounded party), or running out and buying every pre-made module in order to know the DM’s next move – metagaming will happen.

So what do you do about it?

There are a lot of options, and a lot of opinions.  Some say embrace it.  Most say fight it and put a stop to it.

My recommendation is to direct it, as comfortably as possible in a direction that fits your interests and tastes.  What I am talking about here is being as open and honest with your gaming group about what you feel is an appropriate level and type of metagaming.

If, at the table you prefer that everything be said in character, then let people know.  Perhaps propose that a session or a portion of a session is run according to your style.  By opening the discussion you are enabling the other players to bring out their opinion and increasing the likelihood that they will support your opinion.

If you fight it – especially in a confrontational manner I can pretty much guarantee that you will get nowhere.  Most likely you will frustrate and alienate other players.  At best you will get them to abide by your rules just long enough for them to find another game.

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This is a problem for a number of players.  They believe that their DM is simply out to get them.

Real or imagined, this can be a huge problem for enjoying the game.  So what do you do?

Realistically, no matter the actual cause of the problem there is only one answer.  Talk about it.  Don’t be confrontational or a jerk.  Just bring up the problem and ask what is going on.

It is entirely probable that whatever the true source of the problem is has nothing to do with anything that you have considered to this point.  It is also highly probably that the problem can be easily resolved.

A lot of people make the mistake of whining about the problem instead of dealing with it and drag the baggage around for months or even years before quitting and finding a different game.  This is unnecessary.  Either the problem is easily resolved or it isn’t, but it will never be resolved until it is confronted.

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There is a certain prejudice among some gamers against using pre-made adventures.  They are so cookie cutter that it begins to feel more like playing Monopoly than dungeons and dragons (not that Monopoly is a bad game).

As a Dungeon Master, however, pre-made campaigns and adventures can be huge time savers.  But to keep my players guessing here area a few tricks that I have use in the past.

·    Change the names of the NPC’s.  You would be surprised how effective this is.  Give the barkeep a name that fits your style and personality and the players will respond accordingly.
·    Use towns from your campaign world.  Scrap the whole starting village and put in one that comes from your world.  Put the useful clues where they would fit organically in your town and run with it.
·    Get rid of the adventure elements that don’t fit.  Just cut them out and move on with your life.  If you don’t need it don’t use it.
·    Use only the encounter information, i.e. stat blocks and get rid of the maps/set up information.  This is particularly useful for the outdoors encounters stuff.  The stuff that happens almost in town or between town and the dungeon.  A lot of times there is a ton of useless background information that has nothing to do with your campaign and your world, but the stats and combat info are good and can be quickly dropped into your personalized setting.
·    Add your own NPC’s.  This is very useful.  If, for example you have been facing the dread druid queen who seeks to enslave the world in a animal/hybrid paradise then introduce some of her minions into the premade.  Swap out an encounter or two.  Change the big bad bosses name.

Keep the elements that make sense – in particular maps, monster statistics, names that you like etc. Any unique magic items or encounters made just for that adventure are often very useful because they tend to add a ton of flavor.

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Sometimes more gold does not help a party much.  Sometimes even more experience points, magic items, and hordes of gems really aren’t worth very much to characters or to players.

Understanding the importance of these items in relation to the world that the characters live in is important to understanding how treasure and even experience can impact the game.

The easiest example is with magic items.  If an item has no use or very little use to the party then it really adds no value or power to the party.  An example would be a magic wand in a party with no one who can use a magic wand.  On paper the party appears to be at the appropriate power level, but in reality they are a magic item short.  This could be particularly devastating because it highlights a deficiency and exacerbates an existing weakness.

Gold can fall into a very similar situation very quickly if there is no place to spend the gold, or if the players are unwilling to spend the gold or if the characters are unable to haul the loot around.  A huge dragon horde at the bottom of a dungeon with a party that has no bag of holding or time in which to pack the loot out does nobody any good.  If, when they reach the top there is nothing waiting but a village with one general store selling only basic goods from the Player’s Handbook, then they will unlikely be able to find a good way to spend their money.

What about experience?  Can it really be of little or no value?  Most of the time experience is the single most valuable reward that can be given.  It is the only reward that inherently increases the character’s power – regardless of the campaign or situation.  However, in a vacuum it still is not the holy grail.  If there is not a corresponding increase in treasure – particularly useful magic items, then experience points alone can be a bit disappointing.  A wizard who does not have a powerful implement may struggle in situations where other high level wizards do not.

Until next time, have fun!

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One of the basics of survival in any combat oriented rpg is to kill the bad guys.  In Dungeons and Dragons there are nearly limitless ways of accomplishing this task, and the less work that your character has to put into it the better.

Online D&D forums are full of all kinds of hints and tips about how to maximize your ability to dish out the damage, but there is far less information about how to eliminate the painful necessity of doing damage at all.

If you are clinging to 3rd edition, you have a few more options here, but 4th edition also has plenty of room for strategy.  In some ways even more.

The first key to keep in mind is that unlike many computer games the bad guys to in fact damage each other.  One of the greater fears about spell casters and their ilk are area attacks that can take out the entire party at once.  Often these types are paired with minions or partners whose job it is to bunch the party together.

Your strategy in these situation should be to always make sure that as many enemies as possible are within all possible areas of effect.  In other words if the caster wants to hit any two party members they should also be forced to hit at least one of their own allies.  This is most easily accomplished by keeping an enemy between the party members.

Next, look for opportunities to force the monsters to use hazardous terrain or to provoke opportunity attacks.  If you have a decent rogue type along then few traps should surprise the party.  Knowing which squares to avoid makes combat not only less dangerous but can be used to your advantage.  Skills such as intimidate and bluff can be used to good effect.  Also, using ranged attacks and blocking the good squares with skillful fighters can force enemies to either risk hazerdous terrain or opportunity attacks or be picked apart mercilessly at a distance.

Finally, never forget about compulsion effects.  3rd edition (and earlier) had many ways of taking control of an encounter.  These can be very powerful effects, starting at first level with charm person.  If you do manage to take control of the enemy, abuse the power mercilessly.  Lesser effects such as suggestion and charm person won’t allow you to cause an enemy to attack an ally or damage himself, but can be used to maneuver them into more vulnerable positions or to trigger traps of which they are not aware.

Always keep in mind that just like a real combat, D&D encounters are more than dice and numbers and the outcome can be swayed very quickly by using strategy and good jugment.

And be sure to have fun!

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Building a village for your Dungeons and Dragons campaign is relatively simple.  The key components of a village (despite what the Dungeon Master’s Guide may have told you) are:

·    A purpose
·    A place
·    A face

Lets start with the purpose.  Why is the village there?  Why do the players care?  Is it just a rest stop on the way to the next adventure?  Does it hold a vital clue to solving some mystery?  Understanding the purpose will tell you not only what elements to include in your village, but also give you some ideas about how to describe it and how much effort you need to put into it.  A watering hole on the way to the big city (because the players just need a place to rest for the night) will require significantly less effort than a collection of undead farmers attempting to hide their nefarious secret from the world.

Once you understand the purpose of the village you need to give the players a place to be and someone to interact with.  These are the place and the face respectively.

The place is simply the stage where most of the action is expected to happen.  This can be a tavern, a farmhouse, a store, or the village square (or any of dozens of other locations).  The whole idea here is that you put some amount of though into at least one location and give the players clues that this is where they need to be and who they need to talk to.  If you are building the village on the fly then understanding the place is vital – not only to keeping your sanity but to directing your players so they don’t get bored or confused.

Finally, the face is the one character that you want them to remember or care about.  This could be the innkeeper or the shadowy figure in the corner.  It is the person that you as a DM will draw attention to and focus the players attention on.

Now, if you are using stock NPC’s to go with your campaign, here is a handy trick that I use.  It is a version of the magician’s force, but it works well.  A force (in case you are wondering) is simply the art of offering a choice without really offering a choice.  The idea is simple.  Have one set of stats – anything that fits the power level of your part.  Then offer two or three physical descriptions to the players of people they encounter in the village.  Now, whoever they choose to talk to or interact with gets those stats.

90% of the time (or more) they will ignore the other characters that you created anyway and there will be no need for them to have stats – not even a name.  It gets confusing to keep track of too many characters, and most players just want to find the important ones.  Make it easy on them (and yourself) by simply having the one they talk to be the important one.  They will never know the difference and you will save yourself a few headaches.

If you are afraid of metagaming, then mix it up a little.  Make them get past a few red herrings first.

Either way, be sure to have fun with it!

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What is a stock NPC?  Put simply it is that guy that shows up in nearly every town, village, bar or other place the players visit often.

The judicious use of stock NPC’s can make many elements of your D&D campaign run much more smoothly, especially if you are running a campaign that involves a lot of city or town travel and is a bit lighter on the dungeons.

The monster manual, handily enough, provides us with a number of stock NPC’s ready for use, i.e. the various “monster” versions of the races in the Player’s Handbook.  These are very useful and should not be overlooked.  If you expect to use a new town or village in the next session it may be a good idea to keep the stat cards around for the humans at the very least, but you may want to consider having a few elves or tieflings as well, depending on your setting.

These statistics are useful for when the party decides to do the totally unexpected such as rob the local merchants of their winter grain storage or recruit the farmer’s daughter into the party.  Having the stats handy (rather than buried somewhere in a book) makes it a lot easier to say “yes” to the crazy ideas.

Combine the stat cards with a name generator and you are set.  If you can find a name generator that does many names at once then just print a list of 20 or 30 names and you are set.

The key to remember when using stock NPC’s is that the players will remember how you play the character rather than where he was found or what her name was.  The stats on the card are there only for reference should anything involving rules come up.  The rest of it is up to how you decide to play that particular character and what sort of feel you want to bring to the session.

Until next time have fun!

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