Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2014 21:45:38 GMT -5
So, one of the things the community has needed for a long time is more people that are willing and able to DM. Finding people willing to DM isn’t terribly hard, but a lot of our members opt not to DM due to lack of experience as a DM. Obviously, this creates a problem. It’s somewhat like how people are unable to get into entry level jobs because they don’t have three years of experience in that entry level job. The good news is that your friendly staff is here to help! I’m going to be pumping out articles, aiming for once a week or so, about how to DM effectively. We’ll be starting with the basics, and getting into more advanced topics as the series continued. I was originally going to release this as one massive article, but I decided it would be better for me to just deliver content in this format so that it doesn’t take me forever to get done.
Disclaimer: These will only be written when I either have nothing to do or am procrastinating, so it’s unlikely that they’ll actually come every week. They may be far faster or slower, depending on my workload.
Without further ado, let’s get right into it!
Planning can either be the most important part of a good adventure or quest, or the least important. In general, I like to think of planning in one of three ways, depending on how long the thread will be. I’ll get into those in a second, but let’s talk about thread length first. Always, always, always, have a thread length in mind when you’re starting a thread. I can’t say this enough times, so just do it. Why does a thread length matter you ask? Because the length you have in mind will help you structure the thread appropriately. If you’re aiming for a two page long adventure, and you spend 25 post fighting mooks, you have no time left for your conclusion. You need to make sure that you don’t drag out parts of a thread unnecessarily, else the thread will feel stale and boring. That aside, let’s talk about the different levels of planning you can do, based on how long your thread will be.
Entirely Pre-Planned: Some people like to have an entire adventure planned, down to the last detail, before the thread even starts. Generally, I recommend avoiding this completely, especially as a new DM. Characters will often do things that throw your plan off course, and new DMs often struggle to adapt to unexpected RPC actions. If you want to use this style of planning an adventure, I recommend using this only for very, very short adventures. These shouldn’t exceed three pages, as anything else will give far too many opportunities for RPCs to throw off your plans. If you want to use this type of planning, give limited choices to the characters with your powers as a DM. For example, rather than saying they are in a hallway, say they are in a hallway with only one door and walls so solid that they couldn’t bust them down with a 90s level Kido. Is it occasionally unrealistic? Yup. Is it sometimes necessary to ensure your plot works out the way you want it to? Also yes.
Plan an Outline: This is generally the best type of planning in my experience. Don’t determine any specifics of anything, but instead just write a vague sequence of events, most likely in bullet point format or perhaps a numbered list. Rather than talking about specific things that will happen, it often helps to make an outline in the form of choices or obstacles that the team will have to overcome. It’s easier to be flexible with this style of planning since it’s fairly easy to throw away a few bullet points compared to throwing away a cinematic you typed up in advance. When writing an outline, it’s a good practice to take down some notes for various outcomes that you think could happen in the thread. Leave yourself notes on what happens if a given NPC is allowed to escape compared to if they’re killed, just as an example.
Wing it: I don’t recommend this if you’ve never DM’d before. With this style of planning, if you can even call it a plan, you’ve got a starting event written for the intros, and an idea of how the thread ends. Everything else is made up on the fly. While this is good in the hands of an experienced DM, new DMs often struggle to come up with plot elements, enemies, or other vital details in a reasonable timeframe without any kind of planning. As a result, challenges tend to be either lackluster or blatantly overwhelming. While I strongly recommend against doing this as a new DM, it is possible if you do a few things. First, keep it short. If you don’t give everyone a ton of time to make crazy things happen, you can usually throw something together that keeps the thread coherent. Secondly, run your NPCs by staff or an experienced member first. There’s a 99% chance that someone in chat can do a quick balance check for you. Third: keep it simple and easy. Don’t try for any complex plot ideas or powers if you don’t have time to think them through. You can do a lot with very simple powers and basic plots. As for the easy part, it’s less of a challenge to make a low-tier NPC than it is to design something that rivals Kuroi, so just set the bar lower if you don’t have time to plan.
Now that we’ve covered the basic levels of planning and preparation, we can actually talk about a few things that you should have figured out in advance. We’ll cover a few things to keep in mind, and how much you should do before the thread starts based on the different levels of planning.
First off is your group. What’s that you say? “You can influence who joins your thread?” Absolutely! Almost no one chooses to do this, and just makes open adventures instead. I think a lot of this boils down to people being afraid that people won’t join their threads, which is silly. Adventures and Quests tend to fill up practically overnight around here, so you can totally pick and choose who joins your thread. There are a number of things to consider when getting a group together for a thread. The first, obviously, is factions. Can you properly deal with members of different races and/or factions in your same thread? If you’re a first time DM, I recommend against this, as it’s far easier to manage if your RPCs get along. That’s point number two. Don’t choose a group that hates each other if you can’t handle it. Canon 5: Espionage is a good example of this. My party almost killed each other, and it was due, in part, to me remaining calm and knowing how to exert my control as a DM that things didn’t turn into a PvP there. If you’re a new DM, just make sure your party all likes each other before getting underway.
Another thing to consider when forming a group is power level. Yes, class is one indicator of power levels, and class restrictions on who can join helps, but there are very different levels of power within each class. For a good example, let’s look at Canon 5 again, this time on the distraction team. This had a Class 4 and a Class 3 character pressuring a Class 1 opponent. Generally, that shouldn’t happen, but some characters are stronger than others through a mix of good powers, combat RP experience, or general creativity. Looking over a character’s PvP record can give you a decent grasp of this, or just ask experienced members what they think of a given character/RPer’s power in combat.
Posting speed is another thing to consider when making a thread. If you’re trying to get a thread to go quickly, don’t invite slow posters. It’s pretty straightforward at first, but it can be kinda hard to tell at a glance whether someone is a fast or slow poster. Some people have posts spaced weeks apart, but that’s because it only gets to their post every few weeks, and they’re only in one thread. Others can post nearly every day, but they’re in so many threads that they’re still a month behind. The best way to judge this is to look at 3-5 threads that someone is active in or has completed and average how long it took them to reply to a given post. If you’re looking for fast posters, you probably don’t want to recruit three RPers that have an average of over a month to get back to someone. That number is fairly extreme, but it could happen, and threads like that will take years to finish. Some people don’t mind that, but it’s definitely something you should consider if you are trying to get a thread done fairly quickly.
Participant number is another big thing to consider. Solo adventures are very rarely done, and take more effort from everyone involved for the amount of TP you get, but they have other benefits. The DM can prepare challenges specifically designed for that character, and they can directly influence the growth of that character in a world where they have complete control. That’s fairly awesome if you ask me. As for the RPC, they get an adventure that’s custom tailored to their strengths, weaknesses, and personality. That’s equally awesome! Solo adventures are a great way to start as a DM, because they’re basically the same as a normal thread, but you’re using NPCs instead of your own character. If you’re going to use multiple characters, keep in mind that the posting speed of the thread depends entirely on the slowest poster, and more posters means a slower thread most times, regardless of how fast each poster is. It’s generally recommended to not exceed 4 posters in a given adventure or quest. Above that, the chances of someone being a slow poster, going inactive, or having issues with someone else in the thread increases drastically.
The last topic I want to cover in this section is NPC creation. Obviously, this will vary based on your level of planning, but we’ll cover that in a bit. In general, it’s a good idea to have ideas for NPCs before you start a thread, even if you’re winging it. For some people, having a few general ideas about some powers you want to work with is fine, but there’s more to consider than just balancing powers. Consider things like the personality of NPCs, and how those NPCs will be used to shape the storyline. NPCs should always be there for a reason. If the sole purpose of an NPC is to make the thread harder, you’ve failed as a DM. Every challenge, every character, and every post you write should add to the story in a meaningful way. The goal of DMing an adventure or quest is to tell a good story about the characters in that thread, and throwing in NPCs for the sake of ensuring you get the thread to a certain difficulty level usually makes a bad story.
Now that we’ve covered each of those topics, let’s discuss how they should be carried out at each level of planning.
RPC Harmony: This is absolutely essential if you’re going to wing it. If you try to wing a thread and your RPCs start fighting, you’re probably screwed as them fighting will take over the thread. You’re just as screwed if your RPCs start fighting each other in an entirely-preplanned thread, as your plan just got ruined. RPC Harmony is most important in entirely pre-planned threads, above everything else, since you have to be able to predict the RPCs. On the other hand, if you have an outline, you’ll probably be okay with a little infighting, as you can adjust the outline to fit it fairly easily. This is just one of many reasons that I recommend outlines to first time DMs.
Power Level: This one is pretty straightforward. It’s far easier to wing it when you don’t have to make strong NPCs, since almost anyone can throw together a basic elemental power in a few minutes. Yeah, the mechanics can take a little longer, but weak NPCs can generally be made quickly since their powers don’t have to be created. Outlines can allow for a good mix of combat and non-combat challenges to be prepared in advance, but they may have trouble with making something good enough to truly be worth hard difficulty. Threads that are entirely pre-planned can be done at any power level, but heavy planning is recommended for harder threads. Especially if you’re a first time DM, I would highly, highly, recommend that you plan a few specific encounters before the thread starts so that you aren’t pressured to come up with challenging puzzles or strong powers at a moment’s notice.
Posting Speed: This one doesn’t really vary based on how much planning you’ve put into things. If you’ve got a plan for a fast-paced thread though, you probably want people who are going to post faster.
Participant Number: If you’re winging it, your plans won’t be greatly altered based on how many people are in your thread, but I highly recommend against trying to make up a thread for more than 3 RPCs on the fly. Pre-planned threads are probably best done for two or less people, as more people means more variables. That, in turn, makes it harder to come up with a good plan in advance. Outlines are superior in this regard, as you can make a fairly effective outline regardless of how many people are in your thread.
NPC Creation: Even if you’re just winging it, please, please, either be very good at creating powers quickly or have several ideas in advance. Even if you think you’re good, still brainstorm some ideas in advance. Powers thrown together at the last minute, as mentioned earlier, are usually problematic. For outlined threads, I generally recommend having a quick paragraph about each NPC you’re planning to use with notes on the theme of their power, rough stat build, and their plot relevance. For entirely pre-planned threads, go the whole distance and pre-write their entire introduction to the thread, including a final stat/skill build and complete write-up of their powers.
That wraps up our first topic for now! Our next topic will be an in-depth look at NPC creation.
Disclaimer: These will only be written when I either have nothing to do or am procrastinating, so it’s unlikely that they’ll actually come every week. They may be far faster or slower, depending on my workload.
Without further ado, let’s get right into it!
Planning and Preperation
Planning can either be the most important part of a good adventure or quest, or the least important. In general, I like to think of planning in one of three ways, depending on how long the thread will be. I’ll get into those in a second, but let’s talk about thread length first. Always, always, always, have a thread length in mind when you’re starting a thread. I can’t say this enough times, so just do it. Why does a thread length matter you ask? Because the length you have in mind will help you structure the thread appropriately. If you’re aiming for a two page long adventure, and you spend 25 post fighting mooks, you have no time left for your conclusion. You need to make sure that you don’t drag out parts of a thread unnecessarily, else the thread will feel stale and boring. That aside, let’s talk about the different levels of planning you can do, based on how long your thread will be.
Entirely Pre-Planned: Some people like to have an entire adventure planned, down to the last detail, before the thread even starts. Generally, I recommend avoiding this completely, especially as a new DM. Characters will often do things that throw your plan off course, and new DMs often struggle to adapt to unexpected RPC actions. If you want to use this style of planning an adventure, I recommend using this only for very, very short adventures. These shouldn’t exceed three pages, as anything else will give far too many opportunities for RPCs to throw off your plans. If you want to use this type of planning, give limited choices to the characters with your powers as a DM. For example, rather than saying they are in a hallway, say they are in a hallway with only one door and walls so solid that they couldn’t bust them down with a 90s level Kido. Is it occasionally unrealistic? Yup. Is it sometimes necessary to ensure your plot works out the way you want it to? Also yes.
Plan an Outline: This is generally the best type of planning in my experience. Don’t determine any specifics of anything, but instead just write a vague sequence of events, most likely in bullet point format or perhaps a numbered list. Rather than talking about specific things that will happen, it often helps to make an outline in the form of choices or obstacles that the team will have to overcome. It’s easier to be flexible with this style of planning since it’s fairly easy to throw away a few bullet points compared to throwing away a cinematic you typed up in advance. When writing an outline, it’s a good practice to take down some notes for various outcomes that you think could happen in the thread. Leave yourself notes on what happens if a given NPC is allowed to escape compared to if they’re killed, just as an example.
Wing it: I don’t recommend this if you’ve never DM’d before. With this style of planning, if you can even call it a plan, you’ve got a starting event written for the intros, and an idea of how the thread ends. Everything else is made up on the fly. While this is good in the hands of an experienced DM, new DMs often struggle to come up with plot elements, enemies, or other vital details in a reasonable timeframe without any kind of planning. As a result, challenges tend to be either lackluster or blatantly overwhelming. While I strongly recommend against doing this as a new DM, it is possible if you do a few things. First, keep it short. If you don’t give everyone a ton of time to make crazy things happen, you can usually throw something together that keeps the thread coherent. Secondly, run your NPCs by staff or an experienced member first. There’s a 99% chance that someone in chat can do a quick balance check for you. Third: keep it simple and easy. Don’t try for any complex plot ideas or powers if you don’t have time to think them through. You can do a lot with very simple powers and basic plots. As for the easy part, it’s less of a challenge to make a low-tier NPC than it is to design something that rivals Kuroi, so just set the bar lower if you don’t have time to plan.
Now that we’ve covered the basic levels of planning and preparation, we can actually talk about a few things that you should have figured out in advance. We’ll cover a few things to keep in mind, and how much you should do before the thread starts based on the different levels of planning.
First off is your group. What’s that you say? “You can influence who joins your thread?” Absolutely! Almost no one chooses to do this, and just makes open adventures instead. I think a lot of this boils down to people being afraid that people won’t join their threads, which is silly. Adventures and Quests tend to fill up practically overnight around here, so you can totally pick and choose who joins your thread. There are a number of things to consider when getting a group together for a thread. The first, obviously, is factions. Can you properly deal with members of different races and/or factions in your same thread? If you’re a first time DM, I recommend against this, as it’s far easier to manage if your RPCs get along. That’s point number two. Don’t choose a group that hates each other if you can’t handle it. Canon 5: Espionage is a good example of this. My party almost killed each other, and it was due, in part, to me remaining calm and knowing how to exert my control as a DM that things didn’t turn into a PvP there. If you’re a new DM, just make sure your party all likes each other before getting underway.
Another thing to consider when forming a group is power level. Yes, class is one indicator of power levels, and class restrictions on who can join helps, but there are very different levels of power within each class. For a good example, let’s look at Canon 5 again, this time on the distraction team. This had a Class 4 and a Class 3 character pressuring a Class 1 opponent. Generally, that shouldn’t happen, but some characters are stronger than others through a mix of good powers, combat RP experience, or general creativity. Looking over a character’s PvP record can give you a decent grasp of this, or just ask experienced members what they think of a given character/RPer’s power in combat.
Posting speed is another thing to consider when making a thread. If you’re trying to get a thread to go quickly, don’t invite slow posters. It’s pretty straightforward at first, but it can be kinda hard to tell at a glance whether someone is a fast or slow poster. Some people have posts spaced weeks apart, but that’s because it only gets to their post every few weeks, and they’re only in one thread. Others can post nearly every day, but they’re in so many threads that they’re still a month behind. The best way to judge this is to look at 3-5 threads that someone is active in or has completed and average how long it took them to reply to a given post. If you’re looking for fast posters, you probably don’t want to recruit three RPers that have an average of over a month to get back to someone. That number is fairly extreme, but it could happen, and threads like that will take years to finish. Some people don’t mind that, but it’s definitely something you should consider if you are trying to get a thread done fairly quickly.
Participant number is another big thing to consider. Solo adventures are very rarely done, and take more effort from everyone involved for the amount of TP you get, but they have other benefits. The DM can prepare challenges specifically designed for that character, and they can directly influence the growth of that character in a world where they have complete control. That’s fairly awesome if you ask me. As for the RPC, they get an adventure that’s custom tailored to their strengths, weaknesses, and personality. That’s equally awesome! Solo adventures are a great way to start as a DM, because they’re basically the same as a normal thread, but you’re using NPCs instead of your own character. If you’re going to use multiple characters, keep in mind that the posting speed of the thread depends entirely on the slowest poster, and more posters means a slower thread most times, regardless of how fast each poster is. It’s generally recommended to not exceed 4 posters in a given adventure or quest. Above that, the chances of someone being a slow poster, going inactive, or having issues with someone else in the thread increases drastically.
The last topic I want to cover in this section is NPC creation. Obviously, this will vary based on your level of planning, but we’ll cover that in a bit. In general, it’s a good idea to have ideas for NPCs before you start a thread, even if you’re winging it. For some people, having a few general ideas about some powers you want to work with is fine, but there’s more to consider than just balancing powers. Consider things like the personality of NPCs, and how those NPCs will be used to shape the storyline. NPCs should always be there for a reason. If the sole purpose of an NPC is to make the thread harder, you’ve failed as a DM. Every challenge, every character, and every post you write should add to the story in a meaningful way. The goal of DMing an adventure or quest is to tell a good story about the characters in that thread, and throwing in NPCs for the sake of ensuring you get the thread to a certain difficulty level usually makes a bad story.
Now that we’ve covered each of those topics, let’s discuss how they should be carried out at each level of planning.
RPC Harmony: This is absolutely essential if you’re going to wing it. If you try to wing a thread and your RPCs start fighting, you’re probably screwed as them fighting will take over the thread. You’re just as screwed if your RPCs start fighting each other in an entirely-preplanned thread, as your plan just got ruined. RPC Harmony is most important in entirely pre-planned threads, above everything else, since you have to be able to predict the RPCs. On the other hand, if you have an outline, you’ll probably be okay with a little infighting, as you can adjust the outline to fit it fairly easily. This is just one of many reasons that I recommend outlines to first time DMs.
Power Level: This one is pretty straightforward. It’s far easier to wing it when you don’t have to make strong NPCs, since almost anyone can throw together a basic elemental power in a few minutes. Yeah, the mechanics can take a little longer, but weak NPCs can generally be made quickly since their powers don’t have to be created. Outlines can allow for a good mix of combat and non-combat challenges to be prepared in advance, but they may have trouble with making something good enough to truly be worth hard difficulty. Threads that are entirely pre-planned can be done at any power level, but heavy planning is recommended for harder threads. Especially if you’re a first time DM, I would highly, highly, recommend that you plan a few specific encounters before the thread starts so that you aren’t pressured to come up with challenging puzzles or strong powers at a moment’s notice.
Posting Speed: This one doesn’t really vary based on how much planning you’ve put into things. If you’ve got a plan for a fast-paced thread though, you probably want people who are going to post faster.
Participant Number: If you’re winging it, your plans won’t be greatly altered based on how many people are in your thread, but I highly recommend against trying to make up a thread for more than 3 RPCs on the fly. Pre-planned threads are probably best done for two or less people, as more people means more variables. That, in turn, makes it harder to come up with a good plan in advance. Outlines are superior in this regard, as you can make a fairly effective outline regardless of how many people are in your thread.
NPC Creation: Even if you’re just winging it, please, please, either be very good at creating powers quickly or have several ideas in advance. Even if you think you’re good, still brainstorm some ideas in advance. Powers thrown together at the last minute, as mentioned earlier, are usually problematic. For outlined threads, I generally recommend having a quick paragraph about each NPC you’re planning to use with notes on the theme of their power, rough stat build, and their plot relevance. For entirely pre-planned threads, go the whole distance and pre-write their entire introduction to the thread, including a final stat/skill build and complete write-up of their powers.
That wraps up our first topic for now! Our next topic will be an in-depth look at NPC creation.