So the party decided to go off in a completely unexpected direction.  Is this the end of the world?  No.  Is it inconvenient?  Maybe.  Can it be solved easily?  Yes.

Remember that in a game as open ended as Dungeons and Dragons, there is no such thing as the “wrong way.”  There are unexpected directions and events.  There are unplanned and unprepared areas, but there is not a “wrong way.”

Dealing with the unexpected is an art that can really only be learned by doing, but it isn’t that difficult to get the hang of it.  Understanding the elements of an encounter can help.

Encounters have 4 essential components.

-People
-Place
-Thing

So far sounds like the elementary school definition of a noun.  But the fourth element is probably the most important.

-Purpose

Getting the people, places, and things together are the bits that make encounters difficult.  These have to be prepared ahead of time.  It takes too much game time and effort to pull together the statistics of monsters on the fly.  Players can get bored pretty quickly while they are waiting for you to pull together the stats of that big red dragon.

So prepare ahead of time.

There are some things you can prepare ahead of time and some things you can’t.  In the manufacturing world there are things that can be done while the machine is running and things that can’t – this is referred to as internal and external setup for those of you keeping tabs.  The idea is the same in a game situation.  There are things you can prepare ahead of time and some things you can’t.  Doing as much ahead of time as possible will save you headaches later.

So what can you prepare ahead of time?

-Purpose.  This is crucial.  There had better be a purpose to whatever happens, and it is up to the DM to decide this.  So figure it out ahead of time.  Without this you are just playing a mini’s battle game, not an RPG.
-Things.  The stuff that the NPC’s have.  All of the key items – the stuff relating to the purpose should also be prepared ahead of time.  In most cases things won’t alter the people they are with.  Just stick it in a trapped box and the box then can be put in any encounter you want.
-Place.  You don’t get to pick the place.  The players do.  But you do get to pick which choices the players have.  I generally divide my encounters into a couple of categories.  Either they will happen in a dungeon, outdoors, or in a town.  What do I prepare ahead of time?  The dungeon map, a couple of outdoor encounter maps, and the town.  In any given session (even a really long session) it is pretty difficult for a party to visit more than one dungeon or town and do much more than knock on a few doors.

That leaves us with people.  Some people are more key than others.  Random XP fodder can be prepared pretty easily.  Use the monster manual or download monster cards and there you have it.  Make sure that the encounter fits your purpose and you have it.

Some people need more details.  These are the key NPC’s that you spend time crafting and really want the characters to interact with.  Generally when a party goes “the wrong way” it means that they have chosen not to meet the NPC’s you wanted them to meet in the place you wanted them to meet at the time you wanted them to meet.  Get over it.

If you really want the interaction of those NPC’s, then move the people to a different place.  Keep the purpose and the things the same and the players will not know the difference.

The trick here is that the 4 elements of an encounter can all be swapped out at any time.  An encounter’s purpose can be altered simply by the actions of the NPC’s.  The people can be altered by swapping out one stack of stat cards with another.  The things can be swapped out just as easily.

Make sure that all of the elements are prepared individually, without context, and add the context during the game.  The end result will be encounters that do not lack crucial elements and that don’t take extensive time to set up during the game.

If you happen to be lucky enough to have your players right where you want them, then even better.  No changes are necessary and you get to enjoy everything just the way you planned it!

Welcome back to Dungeons and Dragons Corner.

You can find Character Sheets Here.

Feel free to make a Paypal Donation to support Dungeons and Dragons Corner!

Did you like this post? Want More? Then subscribe to my RSS feed!

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!

Did you like this post? Want More? Then subscribe to my RSS feed!

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!

Did you like this post? Want More? Then subscribe to my RSS feed!